Naruto: Raised in the Shadows
by SpiketheCuddly
Summary: Brought up in the Root, Naruto was a trained killer assassinating Konoha's enemies from the shadows until his mind was shattered. Now returned to the light, how will he cope with a new life? Will he embrace the light or will the darkness overwhelm him? First Story, hopefully will be a long one.
1. Chapter 1

**First story, be gentle but I appreciate any and all feedback or advice. Sorry if the story sucks but hopefully it will get better as I improve!**

**I really, honest to Science own Naruto the series but I just let Kishimoto do the manga cos I'm kind like that...IM LYING! Don't own, don't own anything at all, all is property of Kishimoto unfortunately! Enjoy, read and pretty please with cherries on top review!  
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* * *

There was a lonely little boy living by himself, ignored by everyone who only wanted to be recognized by someone. The only one who ever made time for him was the old man Hokage, and even that was only on the odd occasion when he was treated to a meal. He lived very simply and found few moments of happiness in his life; other children never played with him or bullied him when they caught him alone, their parents were no better, encouraging their kids to torment him while they ignored him. Since he could remember he had only wanted people to actually look at him instead of looking the other way, acknowledgement was what he craved, recognition by someone, anyone! He dreamt of being a ninja, a kickass guardian protecting the village, a hero who would be respected by all. When he was approached by a strange man who offered him his dream, he readily accepted, in his innocence never dreaming of the dark path he would be forced to walk.

_The thief stepped inside his apartment grumbling at his rotten luck that day. Though market day was normally a great time to mingle with the crowds of the city and pickpocket, he had only managed to get a single wallet before a commotion in the crowd had drawn the police. Ryoku was not fool enough to try to pickpocket while ninja's where around! His grumbling increased as he flicked the light switch back and forth as nothing happened, leaving his humble apartment in shadow. Stepping forward to make his way in to the kitchen he gasped in pain as he was struck suddenly from behind, a vicious blow to the back of the legs that floored him. Struggling onto his hands and knees, he was confronted by a small dark figure in front of him that blended with the shadows of the unlit apartment. The glint of light of the kunai in the figures hand froze Ryoku as he felt the chill of fear settle upon him. Then he noticed the hesitation of the figure and saw the kunai shake in its grasp. This spurred Ryoku into action as he surged forward in an attempt to overwhelm and crush his attacker, to take advantage of its hesitation. Ryoku paused, gurgled horribly and slipped to the floor again as blood rushed out of the precise cut in his throat in a powerful spray. His last sight as his life slipped away from him and darkness crept over his eyes was the small shadowy figure with a dripping kunai standing above him as it was joined by two taller figures and with is last bloody breath he heard the whispered words "I'm sorry.." as his life faded away._

_The samurai captain paused in his walk, his charge coming to a halt behind him along with the rest of his troops. The commotion ahead in the market was loud and would be hard for his soldiers to force their way through while maintaining the security of the client. He motioned to the left and the bodyguard detail made their way through a side street to bypass the hubbub in the market. A grubby street urchin peered up from a pile of rubbish and darted forward hands outstretched on path to interrupt the walk of the richly garbed man in the center of the samurai guard. "Get lost you little brat!" One of the samurai blocked his path and punched the child viciously in the stomach, the kid doubled up and slumped over the samurai's arm gasping for breath before collapsing on the ground. The man in the center coughed impatiently and the guard turned away from the child and caught up with the rest of the samurai's, sparing a brief glance backwards to see the injured brat scuttle out of the alley clutching his stomach. He grinned to himself, amused by his petty cruelty before a hissing sound caught his ear. He stared frozen in horror at the explosive tag smoldering on his arm before the powerful explosion ripped through the enclosed space of the alley! _

_The samurai was obliterated in the blast, his shattered armor creating deadly shrapnel that tore through those closest to him, the two samurai standing next to him had no chance as their armor was pierced by the shrapnel. The remaining six samurai stumbled to their feet, groggy from the explosion but protected from the rest of the blast by their thick armor. A few bled from were stray shrapnel had gotten through but they would all live. The same could not be said for their client who lay in a bloody heap against the alley wall where he had been tossed by the explosion, charred and bloody from the fire with a large chunk of shrapnel embedded in his temple. Hours later a young boy walked out of the town accompanied by two merchants who threaded their way carefully through the crowds before disappearing in the woods._

_The three ninja darted swiftly through the trees, their footsteps making only the slightest noise as they launched from branch to branch using carefully controlled bursts of chakra. Their mission was done and now they returned home to Taki for a long rest before their village next called upon their skills. The lead ninja ducked, acting on his instincts honed through years of combat, a kunai wielding ninja landing where he had been moments ago. His two companions were not as lucky, both felled by a surprise attack from two other kunai wielding masked ninja. The Taki nin jumped back, his hands flashing rapidly through seals as he assessed the battlefield. His companions dead with their attackers standing over their bodies, one short, one tall both dressed in camouflage that blended with the trees. And there! The ninja who had missed his attack dressed the same coming at him, a tanto drawn back ready to strike! The Taki nin released his jutsu and exhaled a fiery dragon that crashed straight through the onrushing ninja who had no time to dodge, there were no screams as the charred body dropped to the forest floor as the dragon continued and curved its way round to target the remaining ninja. The Taki nin prepared to fall back into the trees as he watched his jutsu crash down on where the enemy ninja were standing. A fireball exploded with fury and the Taki nin felt the heat on his face before he made to retreat into cover. _

_Blood bubbled from his lips as he found himself unable to move, unable to feel his body. His gaze slid downwards into the clear blue eyes of the short ninja before him whose tanto was sheathed in his chest. The short ninja wiped his blade clean as the body of the enemy fell to the ground, his partner finished performing a swift Doton jutsu that buried the bodies of the other three fallen ninja's and joined him. Together they jumped back into the trees and disappeared into the foliage._

_The merchant entered the inn, flanked by his guards, whistling a happy tune to himself. His business was booming and his caravan was loaded with goods that would fetch a tidy price in Kumo, he also had hidden on his person sizeable sum of ryo that had made their way into his possession from his other business. It was a nice subsidy to his regular income each month and all he had to do was pass on a scroll he was given each time he left Konoha. His business gave him the perfect cover to carry out a little light espionage on the side and the treatment he got back home didn't hurt his finances either. Sitting down at the bar he ordered from a pretty waitress and grinned and held his hands up in mock surrender when she glared at him for leering at her petite form. He left the inn satisfied and continued his journey, while later that day at the end of her shift the pretty waitress walked out of the inn into the dark woods. If anyone had been watching closely they would have seen her vanish with a slight pop and puff of smoke to reveal a short figure clad in dark blue that then disappeared into the gloom of the underbrush. _

_Two days later while sitting down for dinner with a local dignitary in Kiri to discuss the increase in taxation on watercrafts he collapsed face forward into his bowl. Though his guards rushed to his side they were of no use for his death was guaranteed the moment he had let the pretty waitress serve his food. _

_When the staff at the country inn missed their colleague for the second day the head chef went round to her house to check on her he was horrified to find her lifeless body hanging from her ceiling. The death was written off as a suicide by the local authorities despite the protestations from family and friends that Kimiko would never have done such a thing. The suicide of a waitress in Fire country and the poisoning of a merchant in Kiri were never connected._

_The genin team was tired and dirty; their dreams of rescuing princesses and defeating bandits had been swiftly crushed after a month of mindless chores with their jounin instructor who was currently grinning at his charges recollecting with fond memories her own time as a genin in Suna. She turned and bowed respectfully to their client; "It was a pleasure to help you Mika-san, I'm sure my little students are honored to milk your goats." She said to the crippled woman who had come up behind her. Mika smiled kindly at the young jounin and waved her one remaining arm at the grumpy kids in front of her. "Please kunoichi-san I'm sure these kids don't know or even care whose goats their milking, I'm sure they just can't wait get home!" She was glad these young ninja didn't know who she was or what she had done and hoped they would never have to experience what she had in the wars that had been fought when she was younger. "I'm sorry to say that you're probably right about that, kids these days, no respect for their elders or history!" the jounin said while mock scowling at her team. "Alright guys let head back and collect our pay for this mission!"_

_Mika watched the team head of down the road before shutting the door and turning to put away the churns of milk, she found it difficult to milk the stubborn creatures with only one arm and it was always nice to have company in her lonely home. As the sun set on Suna Mika awoke with a jolt in on her sofa where she had fallen asleep earlier, she looked warily around, uncertain of why she had awoken but uneasy for some unknown reason. Her dreams had not been pleasant, another one of the war, bodies and death, not what she wanted to remember. She sighed. _

_Despite her retirement her instincts had not dulled and trusting her instinct she rolled of the sofa just in time to avoid a vicious blow that would have connected with her head as a dark figure attacked from the ceiling. Catching the leg of her assailant as they fell, Mika twisted and flung the attacker across the room before springing to her feet her arm instinctively grasping for a kunai from the pouch that wasn't on her leg. Her attacker recovered swiftly and raced across the room to attack her once again. She caught a hand grasping a kunai as it was swung at her side, pulsing chakra into the hand to sever the tendons that grasped it, allowing her to twist it out of the attackers grasp and onto the floor. She threw her knee into the attackers chin causing them to stumble, giving her time to recover the fallen kunai. She brought the blade forward to skewer the still disorientated assassin just as they looked up into her eyes. _

_Mika gasped and for the first time took in the sight of her would be killer, it was a child, a young boy! Blue eyes gazed up into hers and she paused in her attack. This gave the boy an opening which he took full advantage of; a powerful kick to her knee caused it to shatter tumbling Mika to her knees and as she opened her mouth to cry in pain, a fist to the abdomen winded her and robbed her of breath. As she lay gasping on the floor struggling to restore air to her lungs the boy delivered to swift jabs to her neck that sent her whirling into unconsciousness._

_The boy raced across the desert, his feet making no sound as they glided over the dunes, eating up the miles with a steady pace, a bound woman slung across his back dwarfing his already diminutive stature. Once past the border, he met up with another two ninja who were handed the prisoner before he raced of again in another direction._

* * *

The Third Hokage relaxed in his palanquin, smoking his favorite brand of tobacco as the procession made its way out of the capital of the Fire country, his meeting with the daimyo had gone well and he looked forward to returning home after a trying month of talks and negotiations. It would be week before he arrived back in Konoha and he hoped all was well. Right after he had left, a prominent member of the Yamanaka clan had gone rogue, stealing several clan scrolls and killing two of his own family. An Anbu squad had been dispatched to track him down but they had failed to report back and he feared they were dead. He sighed, that would have to be dealt with when he returned, the Yamanaka's were an important part of Konoha and it would not do to have their secrets revealed to their enemies. Sarutobi's thoughts drifted to his favorite ward; Naruto. He worried about the poor boy, isolated and ignored by the village the boy had become quiet and withdrawn, even with the Hokage he was quiet and secretive… he hoped that the boy was well.

* * *

_Masuka Yamanaka panted as he ran away from the carnage behind him, fear lending him strength. His allies were being slaughtered as they tried to guard his escape, but he didn't care, what he had seen had sent him running in terror. He cursed loudly to himself as he came up short at the edge of cliff. 'Damm it! It had been going so well!' After making his escape from Konoha, he had managed to make the rendezvous with the Kumo ninja sent to escort him back to Lightning country with Konoha's Anbu hot on his trail. The twenty Kumo Anbu had been able to surprise and ambush the Leaf Special Forces and cut them down. They had made their way safely back to the border when another squad of unknown ninja has assaulted them, Masuka suspected they were from Root and he would be dammed if he was taken back to that old mummy Danzo! Despite losing five men in the surprise attack the Kumo nin swiftly gained the upper hand against the three Root members, isolating them before taking them down with their superior numbers. They had managed to take out two of the members when it had all gone wrong. Masuka had struck out at the remaining Leaf ninja while the small figure was distracted by a vicious Lighting jutsu. His Mind Destruction jutsu had connected and the figure had collapsed, it was a powerful and forbidden technique that splintered the victims mind leaving them a vegetable. As a Kumo ninja had moved in for the kill, transparent red claws had erupted from the boy and tore the five ninja standing closest into shreds. Jiinchuriki! Masuka had fought against the demon beast when it had attacked his old village and still remembered the terror he had felt. Allies forgotten he had fled as the demon sprang up from where it lay and attacked the ninja with a vicious assault, all regard for personal safety forgotten as Masuka fled into the trees._

_Masuka panted and tried to regain his breath as he paused in his flight at the cliff's edge. It was quiet now; perhaps the Kumo fools had managed to slay the beast? He prayed in his mind that this would be true. Piss dribbled down his leg as he shook in terror as the terrible figure emerged out of the darkness, soaked in blood, covered in vicious wound that dripped blood and impaled by kunai, shuriken the demon walked towards him. A red cloak of demonic chakra bubbled out and swirled around his body and as the beast drew closer he could see the wounds on his body closing up. Masuka's trembling fingers threw a kunai at the beast that made no attempt to dodge, the blade impacted with its body with a meaty thud but did nothing to slow its implacable approach. To scared to move he screamed in terror as claws made of the demonic chakra erupted from the figure and seized him in their grasp searing his flesh as his life flashed before his eyes_

_._

* * *

The Anbu guard outside the Hokage's office shook in fear as their commander raged within. Several prominent ninja within where facing the old man's wrath and they were glad that they weren't the subject of his anger. Sarutobi let out a weary breath as he slumped back in his chair, the ninja before him were of no use, and it would do no good for him to yell at them anymore. Waving his hand he dismissed the trembling ninja from his office. How could this happen? He wondered to himself. Naruto Uzumaki had disappeared from the village and neither hide nor hair of him could be found. He had been looking forward to seeing his ward when he got back to village, eager to see him enter the academy, hopeful that the friendly environment and socializing with others of his age would cheer up the poor boy. And now this! The boy had been missing for a week before anyone had cared enough to mount a search, the boys disappearance was nothing new, he often disappeared for a couple of days and the Hokage hadn't wished to disturb whatever peace the tormented child found but this time it had been different. A returning team had come across a massacre on the border, mangled bodies brutally mutilated and torn into shreds whose few remains identified them as Kumo ninja. The most disturbing and worrying part was the severed head of Masuka Yamanaka mounted on a crude wooden spike, his face twisted into a terrified death mask. The genin on the team would need to see a therapist undoubtedly. No trace of Masuka's body or the scrolls were found but the jounin instructor had found traces of the Kyubi's chakra present throughout the gory battleground and saturated through the strewn body parts. Sarutobi was worried and scared for Naruto, if the Kybui had been somehow freed or worse possessed Naruto then who knew what would happen! The fact that Naruto wasn't present and no trace of him was found was both reassuring and worrying, he desparetly hoped that Naruto would be found safe and sound and that there would be a logical and calm explanation for all of this that would make sense but he feared it would not be.

Wearily Saurtobi pulled a piece of paper towards him and began to draft the order to look into Naruto's disappearance and a separate order for a search and retrieval mission.

* * *

_Three years later an Anbu patrol raced along the cliff top as the turbulent ocean crashed against the rocks below. Their leader carried a bound figure, a young boy clothed in dark blue pants and shirt with a mask covering his face. His wounds were terrible, and blood dripped from him onto the ninja carrying him. He was tightly bound by wire and several seal tags locked his chakra away. Behind him, another ninja was carrying one of his comrades, a bird mask covering his face which was twisted into a horrifying scream, his body jolting awkwardly as it was carried. They had found the boy washed up on the shore further down the coast, barely breathing. They had seen the ninja gear and equipment he carried a cautiously investigated worried about a possible trap. They searched his body and recovered several sealed scrolls that they were unable to open and found the horrific injuries on his body. Fearing that they would be unable to retrieve any information if the boy died and curious as to what such a young ninja was doing in such a place the one Yamanaka with them decided to carry out a mind delving to extract any pertinent information before the subject died. _

_The bird faced ninja was a skilled member of the Yamanaka clan and experienced in his clan's signature jutsu's and he formed the few seals he needed to carry out the jutsu effortlessly. As soon as he was done the other members of the Anbu squad knew something was wrong. The boy's body began to shake and his chakra which had been barely there before started to surge within his body and change. Buzzard (the Yamanaka who had invaded the boys mind) let out a hideous scream and threw himself back from boy. As his colleagues rushed to his side they could do nothing as he continued to shriek and claw at his face, drawing blood as he gouged out his eyes. Boar and Cat grabbed his arms and tried to restrain him but were barely able to hold his arms down as he arched his back and frothed out at the mouth. He stopped and went limp, his breathed emerging in ragged gasps, he did not awaken. The remaining Anbu drew their weapons and jumped away from the prone boy dragging their comrade with them. They stared at the boy in astonishment and fear as red chakra began to slowly oooooooze out of his skin and bubble around him. The older leader of the squad recognized the feeling the strange chakra and in a flash, trained instincts overriding his fears, he leapt forward and sprang on the boy, ignoring the pain as the chakra burnt through his clothes and began to eat away at his flesh. He slapped a special seal tag down on the boys chest and jumped away to watch the result. The seal was a special Anbu only issue that completely sealed away the targets chakra, it was expensive and difficult to make but very effective. He breathed a sigh of relief and signaled to his team to stand down as the red chakra receded into the boy's body. He knew who this was; he recognized the chakra having felt it 12 years ago when in night of terror and blood Konoha had nearly been destroyed. Their squad would have to return the child back home, he was sure the Hokage would be interested in what the boy had been doing for the past 3 years._

* * *

"Are you sure about this?"

"I'm sure. You know why I have to do this…"

"But why you? You've seen what _it_ did, what it can do!"

"Inoichi! _He's_ just a boy and I'm the only one who can do anything to help him! Think of Ino, think of Shikaku's and Choza's kids! I've got to give him the chance. You know this!"

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry, okay? It's just you saw what happened to Ko….. It's just I don't want you in danger darling…"

"I know, but this is what I do and trust me, I will be in and out before you can know it. Okay?"

"Okay…okay, I'll be right here besides you Noriko and…" Inoichi turned to the grinning figure on the floor, bound by wooden shackles and covered in seals "…if this psychotic little fucker does _anything_ then I will fry your brain!" Inoichi said the last part to the unflinching emotionless face of the boy in the center of the room, ignoring the slap on his arm from his wife by his side.

The boy didn't even flinch as Inoichi took a step towards him before an ANBU stepped forward and laid a hand on his arm to check his path.

"Inoichi! Calm Down!" barked the Hokage, rising out of his seat, his face hidden by shadows. Anger and frustration were both present in his voice but so was tiredness, tiredness that weighed down his entire body. But his voice still carried the power of his youth and Inoichi stepped back.

"I'm okay! It's fine, it's fine! Let's just get this over with, okay?"

The Hokage nodded and resumed his seat, clasping his hands together in front of him and leaning back in his chair. The Anbu retreated back to join his fellows in the shadows around the room, blending in with the darkness.

Inoichi and Noriko stepped forwards to the center of the room stepping around the carefully drawn seals on the floor, making their way to the boy in the center. Bound by sealed wooden shackles on his wrists and ankles he was fastened securely to the floor where the seals ran up from the arrays on the floor and onto the shackles. A masked ninja sat opposite him, arm outstretched in a pose of concentration.

Taking their places on either side of the prisoner the two Yamanaka's placed their hands on the boys head, Noriko's underneath and Inoichi's on top. As Inoichi placed his hand atop of his beloved wife he looked up.

"In and out, right? I'll be waiting to pull you out the minute you call. Don't take any unessecary chances and if you feel at all in danger just run, don't stop and think just get out!" His hand tightened on hers pushing it into the blood mop of hair on the bound boy

"I will darling, don't worry. This is what I do and I'll be fine."

Inoichi cupped his face with his free hand and leant forward.

"I love you"….."I love you too." Noriko smiled and nodded at the medic-nins surrounding the seal array. Chakra channeled from the medic-nins through the seal array hit the seals on the wooden shackles and his head slumped forward as he fell unconscious, deep in artificially induced sleep. The seals lit up as the chakra converged on the two hands resting on the slumped head and as Noriko's eyes rolled up into her head and her eyelids closed, the last image she saw was Inoichi's anxious face.

* * *

_Darkness, dark all around, no light, nothing, just darkness. Water, warm around her ankles and now a light, glowing beneath her. Red light, no red water…blood! No, not blood just red…water or some other liquid but not blood. The light expanding, illuminating the water around her revealing a cavern of darkness around her, a huge expanse of space. In front of her, the gathering light dispelled the gloom to reveal a huge cave filled with shadows, the entrance barred by a mesh of thick bars. She stepped forward curiously and opened her mouth in a scream as a hand fell on her shoulder._

* * *

_**Okey Dokey, I hope you enjoyed that! If you did or didn't let me know whether you want to insult me or praise my incredible gooeyness then go ahead, I don't even care! (kinda do...)**  
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	2. Chapter 2

**Right next chapter up and running, not too slow I think, this sort of pace is what you can probaly expect... again first time writing so...**  
** Yeah I do not Naruto, although I should seeing as how I originally came up with the idea! Unfortunately me and Kishimoto were sharing a dorm in uni at the time and we got drunk and he tricked me into signing over the right :( sneaky bastard! So yeah now Naruto belongs to Kisimoto. Enjoy!**

* * *

The Hokage watched as Inoichi and Noriko both went stiff as their eyes glazed. Good the jutsu had taken hold; it was a tricky one to use with complete trust needed between the two ninja conducting it. Thankfully the Yamanaka couple was the best, although after what had happened to Buzzard, their cousin, he was glad nothing had gone wrong. Unlike the invasive and forceful jutsu's most commonly practiced by the mind walker clan, this collaborative jutsu was much gentler with one ninja providing the gateway and chakra to access the patients mind while the other ninja allowed their mind to be guided through the patient's own. It relied heavily on the patient's cooperation and as such could only be used in a non-hostile environment and so was used by the Yamanaka clan for therapy and mental healing. Hopefully Naruto would cooperate and although Sarutobi had both the boy's word and Danzo's own word and reassurances that Naruto would behave, he was still worried for the outcome of this jutsu. Damm that man! Curse Danzo to the ninth river of hell for what he had done! The Hokage had not wanted to choke the life out of someone for a long time but right now he was seriously considering putting out Danzo's other eye! Sarutobi thought back to earlier that day when he had received word that Naruto had been found…

* * *

_The startled ninja jumped as the Hokage appeared beside him. Only a few ninja's were authorized to use shunshin in or out of the TI building and the Hokage's sudden arrival had surprised him._

_"Hokage-sama! We weren't expecting you so soon, we have only just finished restraining the prisoner…" sputtered the poor TI nin tasked with greeting their commander. _

_"Restrained! Who gave orders for the boy to be imprisoned?" growled the Hokage angry and worried._

_"I did Hokage-sama" Ibiki spoke as he came out of the cell behind him, carefully shutting the door. "The boy is a danger to himself and my team; I had no other option but to restrain him." Sarutobi looked questioningly at his top interrogator and before he could ask the obvious question, Ibiki answered._

_"He regained consciousness fairly quickly after we began treating him, he attempted to gather his chakra and attack the medics working on him and when the seals reacted and threw his chakra back he tried to take his own life by biting his tongue." Sarutobi gasped, he couldn't imagine what had happened to Naruto in the years he had been away from home. _

_"Ibiki, are you sure it's not…the fox?" asked the Hokage. "I'm sorry Hokage-sama but the chakra signature is definitely the boys, the demons chakra is present but sealed within. I have no option but to treat him as a hostile to the village, judging from his behavior and the equipment he was carrying I would say that he has been recruited by another village and trained heavily in the shinobi arts. Although how they managed to do so in secret is very worrying…"_

_"Danzo!" growled the Sarutobi, "Pardon Hokage-sama?" Ibiki asked, confused. "Never mind Ibiki," the Hokage said "I want you to make sure Naruto is safe and that nothing happens to him," Sarutobi paused in his orders and turned to leave but as he prepared to go he finished: "Ibiki?" _

_"Yes Hokage-sama?"_

_"I want Naruto protected, I will be back soon and if anything, and I mean anything has happened to him, I will be holding you personally responsible, understand?"_

_"Yes Hokage-sama." Ibiki replied, wondering what was going on, normally it was job to possess all the information, not left out of the loop. No matter he would follow his leaders order and ensure that his mysterious guests survival._

_Sarutobi shunshined back to his office, furious with his own neglect. "Tiger, Goat! Fetch me Danzo immeadiately! And I don't care if you have to drag him out of bed…. In fact I would prefer him dragged! GO!" He shouted as his personal bodyguard hurriedly left._

_Ten minutes later a disheveled Danzo appeared in the Hokage's office flanked by the two Anbu, Sarutobi noticed to his satisfaction that Danzo was still wearing his pajamas. "Anbu leave!" the bodyguards swiftly left. Sarutobi activated the powerful seals in his office to ensure privacy for the discussion they were about to have._

_"What is the meaning of this Hiruzen?" questioned Danzo uneasy at the abrupt summoning although he suspected what this might be about, you did not get to be an old shinobi without keeping your wits about you._

_"Cut the bullshit Danzo! I know it was you, I may not be able to prove it but by Hell or high water I will make you pay if you don't tell me the truth right now damm it!" spat Sarutobi through gritted teeth._

_"The truth? The truth! Don't make me laugh Hiruzen, you couldn't handle the truth!" Danzo retorted. "It's always been me, in the shadows doing the work your high and mighty ninja are too clean and pure to dirty their hands with! Me! Protecting this village from the enemies that claw at our very walls that your too damm stubborn to see! All I've ever done is protect Konoha and that's all Naruto has done too!"_

_"He's just a boy you demented psychopath! A hero protecting this village who should have had a normal life, a life you denied him! You broke him! Turned him into…into a tool!" Sarutobi was standing, his knuckles white from where they gripped the edge of his desk, the wood cracking and splintering beneath the force he was unconsciously exerting. Killing intent swirled between the two ancient ninja thick and heavy in the small room._

_"Me! A normal life! Age really has addled your brain Hokage-sama!" Danzo spat the honorific out of his mouth as if it was poison. "The boy was never going to be normal, he was destined for something greater…the idiot villagers you love so much have made his life a misery! You're lucky he wasn't more fucked up when I went to him! It was me that helped! Gave him what he wanted, trained him and took care of him. He is damaged alright but thank Kami that I managed to get to him before he could have become something worse you sanctimonious old fool!"_

_The Hokage slumped back into his chair the words like kunai striking his vitals. Lowering his voice he asked in a quiet tone "Explain Danzo, explain to me what happened to him, I have a right to know do I not?"_

_"Very well" Danzo lowered his voice also "I'll tell you what happened to Naruto."_

* * *

"Hokage-sama, hokage-sama?" Sarutobi stirred out of his reverie to look at the medic nin anxiously tapping him on the shoulder. "Hokage-same the jutsu was a success, both participants minds are stable and healthy, no problems so far sir."

"Good, that's good. Thank you." The Hokage waved the anxious young ninja away.

"I told you Hiruzen, Naruto is perfectly capable of following orders. He is very loyal." Danzo muttered smugly from his post at the Hokage's side. As long as it was Danzo's orders that were being followed that was. He wasn't overly worried about the outcome; his little chat with the Hokage earlier had ensured that he was safe. Blackmail was rather crude and simplistic but hey, if it works then why not? He had let the Hokage have a very important piece of knowledge; Naruto was conditioned to be loyal to Danzo alone, on the order Danzo or if he was captured with no hope of escape then he would terminate his own life by any means possible to ensure the safety of Root and Konoha. Hiruzen had been furious that he had conditioned Naruto for suicide and had caught him by surprise when he had leapt from behind his desk and knocked him against the wall before starting to choke him! The old monkey certainly still packed quite a punch…an important bit of knowledge to remember for the future… Danzo had narrowly avoided a fight he had no desire to partake in by croaking out while being throat slammed into the cracking office wall that if he died then Naruto would again seek to end his own life. A bluff, but one that worked thankfully, he would never risk one of his most valuable subordinates killing themselves, that would just be silly!

Sarutobi gritted his teeth in anger, he still reaaaally wanted to suffocated the old Cyclops with his own crippled arm but alas he couldn't… Never the less he was sure the plan he had fermenting in his mind would be a good way to get back at Danzo and ensure Naruto's safety. It just all depended on the outcome of the examination of Naruto's mind and what Noriko's analysis would be at the end of it. If she came out….

* * *

_Noriko's scream was cut off as a hand clasped tightly over her mouth, she went to struggle to throw he attacker of but a quiet voice hissed in her ear; "Quiet! Don't make a sound! You don't want __**it**__ to wake up now do you?" _

_She froze and forced her body to be still when all she wanted to do was run shrieking away from this hellish place. She had seen some strange minds in her time but her knowledge of this patient and what he contained made this one particularly terrifying. _

_"Good." Came the voice in her ear again. "I'm going to take away my hand now, and if you value your sanity then I would keep very quiet, nod if you understand?" Noriko nodded once swiftly and the hand that was covering her mouth was slowly removed. Fighting her urge to scream and run, she turned slowly dreading to see whatever apparition had taken stand behind her. There was no horrid monster or blood dripping ghoul behind her and when she saw the figure in front of her she felt rather silly for her fear. The figure was an almost exact copy of the boy shackled on the outside, with only a few differences; his blonde hair that on the outside was a well trimmed mess of spiky blond locks was a much closer cut, while his eyes were a dull blue that seemed devoid of life. He was tall and clothed in dark black that appeared to swirl around his body, melding with the shadows around him. _

_"That's good, you didn't scream. I take it you're the Yamanaka who's supposed to be taking the little tour through my head? Then again I can't imagine who else would be here, not exactly the most popular place" quipped the boy in a flat tone. "I've been ordered to show you around, I take it your aware of my…situation."_

_"I….um, I can talk?" Noriko questioned in a whisper. "It will be fine as long as you don't raise your voice..." replied the boy._

_"So….you're the subconscious representation of Naruto are you?"_

_"Well obviously, but not quite, I'm __**a**__ part of Naruto's subconscious, I am just one part of his many different splinters of the mess that's Naruto's subconscious. I thought they had told you?" he tilted his head to the side questioningly._

_"Er…no, I was told nothing about that? I'm not sure I understand what you mean? I've never dealt with any cases with multiple personalities before…" Noriko was worried, she hadn't been informed about Naruto having multiple personalities, this was a disturbing development and she wasn't sure if she would be able to help him._

_"Ah, that makes things a little harder. Very well I guess I will have to take care of the tour. What do you need to see?" _

_"Okay…um… First what do I call you? I can't exactly keep calling you a part of the subconscious of the patient?"_

_"Call me Naruto, it's who I am after all, just a split of part of him. "_

_"Which part?" Noriko asked. _

_"I'm composed of the disciplined, trained part of Naruto's mind; I'm the part of him that emerges when conducting missions. I have been trained hard to become a proficient ninja. I'm the dominant personality out of all the others, their mostly repressed by my more dominant side. That's why you're seeing me now instead of the others. I've made sure that they won't be bothering us" replied Naruto._

_The cavern they were in continued to light up as the red glow spread until it reached the walls at the far edges, revealing a multitude of different sized pipes from which liquid dripped down from them to fall into the lake with a gentle dripping._

_"These pipes are all the different aspects of my mind, they feed into this central cavern and mix together. My conscious self is an amalgamation of all the different aspects, at times different parts flow stronger or weaker and that affects how I behave." Explained Nartuo. "It's complicated I know…"_

_"So each of these pipes contain a part of your subconscious?" asked Noriko. "I've heard of schizophrenic minds being portioned into separate parts but I've never encountered it before….so do each of these pipes contain another version of Naruto like you?"_

_"That's correct, each of the pipes lead to a different aspect, each inhabiting their own mental space."_

_"Which one's yours?"_

_Naruto turned and pointed behind him to a large pipe filled with darkness from which a steady stream of liquid poured out._

_"Can we go inside?" asked Noriko nervously, amazed at the complexity Naruto's subconscious had been able to develop and scared as to what had caused such an immense aberration from a normal mind._

_"You're the shrink, wherever you want to go I've been ordered to take you. However make sure you stay by my side, some of the other me's can be dangerous to be around." He motioned for her to follow him and together they splashed their way to the pipe. Noriko was worried about his mention of danger but her duty as a doctor compelled her to follow this boy and her own curiosity wanted an insight into the workings of this fractured mind. _

_They made their way down the pipe, the splashing footsteps echoing in the rusted metal of the large pipe as they walked through the gloom. Neither said a word as the y walked side by side through the dark. Noriko was nervous, unable to see ahead in the dark. Just as Noriko opened her mouth to ask Naruto a question but as she did she saw a light ahead growing in the darkness. The light was soon revealed to be the exit of the tunnel and Noriko picked up her pace to hurry out of the tunnels creepy gloom. She gasped in surprise as she came out in the light and blinked her eyes as she was dazed by the sudden change._

_She and Naruto came out into a large room, plain and empty with grey walls and floor. There was no furniture or any kind of decoration in the room the only things in the room where a small meditation mat in the center of the floor and many large filing cabinets lining the walls._

_"As you can see I keep a very clean mental space. These filing cabinets contain memories and other parts of my personality, I'm sorry but many of these memories are classified. However you are more than welcome to examine any memories from before my induction into the ninja corp, they are a bit limited but go ahead." Offered Nartuo indicating the cabinets lining the walls. _

_"Thank you Naruto" said Noriko "I don't want to impose on you or look at anything you don't want me to, I'm here to help not pry. You're my guide so it's your choice as to what I see…." Noriko had no desire to force her patient not to do anything he didn't want to, it was her job to assess his mental state and right now she was very worried by what she had seen. She unsure of what path to take with Naruto. "Your mental situation is very unique Naruto, it wasn't explained to me exactly how this happened, is that information classified? Or can you tell me? It would help me immensely in your treatment if I had a better understanding."_

_"I'm allowed to reveal that information to you as part of the treatment; it is A-rank information so as long you do not tell anyone outside that clearance then you should be fine. There was an incident during a mission hunting the missing nin Masuka Yamanaka…"_

_Noriko gasped! She had been busy when Masuka had gone rogue but she remembered the panic it had caused when it was found that he had gone rogue. The news of his death had come the entire clan had been intensely relieved that the secrets of their clan were safe but when the scrolls he had stolen weren't recovered the clan heads had remained very disturbed. To think that this boy had been the one responsible for his death and that of twenty Kumo elite. _

_"Your clan specializes in mind jutsu, Masuka used the scrolls he stole to learn several of your forbidden techniques. I was sent to retrieve those scrolls and eliminate Masuka, unfortunately the intelligence we received for the mission was flawed. While distracted by the ninja's sent to escort him, he managed to hit me with a particularly nasty jutsu of yours that targets the victims subconscious, scrambling the neural pathways within the brain. It should have killed my brain and rendered me a vegetable; thankfully my __**prisoner**__ in here had no desire to live in an empty sack of meat so it decided to lend me a helping hand. It forced its chakra into my body repairing the damage done to my brain; however the healing wasn't perfect and the split up pathways in my brain resulted in the splintering of my personality into these different aspects." Naruto explained to a shocked and somewhat confused Noriko._

_"It's a miracle your even alive after getting hit by such a powerful jutsu let alone able to function. I didn't think it was possible for anyone to survive a kinjutsu like that!" she was impressed despite the horrific nature of his injury, from a medical viewpoint, Naruto was a walking miracle and if it was the Kyubi's power that was responsible for such a miraculous recovery then its chakra must possess incredible healing properties. There were such fascinating possibilities! _

_"What else do you wish to know?" Naruto asked indifferent to Noriko's musings, snapping her out of the reverie she was in. _

_"You said you store your memories in these filing cabinets?"_

_"That's correct, are there any in particular you wish to see?" Naruto's voice was flat._

_"Are there any of your earlier memories in here, I would be interested on seeing what happened in your early childhood?" Noriko shook herself out of her thoughts and tried to get back on topic._

_"No, this aspect of Naruto only really emerged after I was inducted into….well I'm not sure I should talk about that. If you wanted to see more about when I was younger then you would have to see another aspect of me… if you wish we can go and see him if you have got everything you need here?"_

_"That would be good, this area of your mind seems to be very well organized…it speaks well for your sanity that you've managed to keep this part that well maintained." Noriko said, pleased that Naruto was so cooperative, she was feeling optimistic about the outcome of her patient's examination. Naruto just nodded and turned to lead her back the way they came through the pipe. As they entered the pipe and the darkness enclosed them once again, their footsteps echoed in the gloom as the room faded away behind them. Neither Naruto or Noriko bothered to look back, as they disappeared into the pipe the rooms began to change. The plain walls started to peel, paint flaking away, to reveal cracks and holes which seeped a thick black liquid that oooozed over the floor._

_They made their way out of the pipe and back into the main chamber. Together they splashed slowly across the main chamber, Noriko paused in their silent journey as a sound reached her ears. A low steady rumble filled the cavern, a soft roar like that of a giants snore. "Is that….?" Noriko whispered the question as Naruto paused momentarily before replying; "Yes, __**it's **__sleeping currently, it spends most of its time sleeping….lazy demon!" scoffed Naruto._

_"Does it talk to you?"_

_"Sometimes but it's mostly a whole bunch of nonsense about death and murder….don't worry I don't listen, I've undergone training to…..control __**it**__."_

_"Is it safe?"_

_"Yes, as long as its asleep it can't do any damage, it's when it wakes up that it starts wreaking havoc, __**he**__ really hates it when someone invades my mind…yeaaah…."_

_Noriko gulped and hurried to catch up with Naruto as he continued his brisk walk towards another large pipe set in the crumbling caves wall. She cast a worried eye on the caged darkness at the other end of the cavern hoping it that the steady snore of the sleeping demon wouldn't change. _

_They reached the pipe and stepped inside, the liquid coming out of this one was barely a trickle, dripping slowly out the mouth. With no water to splash through their footsteps clanged on the pipes side sending echoes up its length. Their journey through the dark was much shorter this time, emerging into blinding sunlight on the other side._

_Noriko stared in awe, before her was the entire village of Konoha laid out before her from where she and Naruto had emerged from the pipe and right onto the top of the Hokage monument that overlooked the village._

_"This is incredible, it's just…. I don't know what to say….amazing!" she was truly amazed by the sight before her. The complete village lay ahead, recreated picture perfect! The only clue she had that this wasn't the actual village was that instead of the thick leafy forest that surrounded and protected Konoha, there was only empty desert stretching out as far as the eye could see. Konoha was a precious gem of green trees and red and yellow houses and signs, it really made her appreciate the beauty of her home._

_"It may look impressive but I should warn you, the aspect that lives here is very simplistic, I would call him an idiot but that would be a compliment…. I would say that the entire situation I'm in is the result of his naïve and foolish behavior! Kami I wish he didn't exist! I've tried multiple times to erase this part of me but unfortunately he keeps turning back up!" Naruto showed emotion in his voice for the first time since Noriko had arrived; she was so engrossed in the incredible sight before her eyes that she had almost not heard what he had said._

_"Wait, back up a second! You tried to erase him? How is that even possible? You shouldn't be able to destroy part of your own mind or even try for that matter!"_

_"It is difficult I will give you that, but it can be done. Before the Masuka incident I successfully removed many aspects of my personality that were hindering my work as a shinobi…it was only after that cursed jutsu that they came flooding back… some I've managed to get rid of again but this one is particularly stubborn…stupid gaki!" muttered Naruto glaring into the village._

_Noriko was so shocked by what she had heard that she didn't see the target of Naruto's stare until it was nearly upon them. Running frantically (well bouncing excitedly would be more accurate) towards was a tiny figure coming up the mountain face. Unlike the boy standing by her side with his plain outfit and emotionless demeanor the tiny figure coming at them was glad in bright orange with a shock of bright blonde hair flapping madly as he converged on them…_

_"Hey! I never get guests here, oh my god this is so awesome! Who are you? Where you from? What are you doing? What's the deal with Grumpy over there accompanying you? Are you even here? Is this real life?" the garbled burst of noise came from the tiny boy you had reached the summit and proceeded to jump madly around Noriko who was overwhelmed by the sudden barrage of questions._

_"What aspect are you?" she asked a little unsteadily glancing over at her emotionless companion to see an irritated tick on his face as he glared at the orange wonder dancing around before them._

_"Aspect? What you talking about? I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Pleased to meet you and I'm gonna be the next Hokage! Believe it!"_

* * *

_**I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I certainly enjoyed writing it (well most of it; the multiple thing was quite hard) especially the Danzon and Sarutobi arguement, felt it worked quite well. Onwards to the next chapter and glory!**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto. There I said it! YOU HAPPY NOW! (sobs quietly to self) Enjoy the story :)**_

* * *

_"Oh shush Grumpy! You're talking nonsense again. What's ya name lady?" asked the chibi blondy._

_"Grumpy?" questioned Noriko, suppressing a giggle at the sight of the titchy blond chastising her stern guide. Despite the situation she couldn't help but want to laugh at the absurdity of the sight before….she had seen some messed up minds, but this one definitely took the cake!_

_"Yeah I call him Grumpy cos he never cracks a smile and he's always frowning! He's a meanie but that's okay cos one day he's gonna have to call me Hokage and listen to me for a change!"chibi Naruto exclaimed in a yell all concepts of peace and quiet lost on him. 'Grumpy' pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation and annoyance, fighting back an urge to strangle the little moron in front of their 'guest', the idiots punishment would have to wait until after Noriko left._

_Noriko let a laugh escape from between her lips, unable to hold in her merth at the two Naruto's. "I like it Naruto, I think that 'Grumpy' suits him perfectly. My name's Noriko and I'm just here to visit, would you mind showing me around? 'Grumpy' has already given me a quick tour but I would love for you to show me around?" she crouched down to look into the small boys bright blue eyes that peered eagerly into her own. This version of Naruto was more like she remembered from his thin file that she had read as part of her briefing before entering his mind. The boy before her would have fitted in anywhere in the village, his blond hair and aquamarine blue eyes creating a cute little bundle of joy that made her want to scoop him up into her arms and smother with hugs._

_'Grumpy' turned his cold gaze onto Noriko at this pronouncement and uttered in a withering tone; "I brought you here to see this aspect at your request, I will warn you again that this aspect is a moron however you are responsible for your own actions and my only responsibility is to ensure your safety and make sure you have the full cooperation of my subconscious."_

_Chibi Naruto turned and stuck out his tongue, making Noriko giggle again in amusement. "Come on Noriko-chan, lets ignore Grumpy and I'll show you my home!" he asked looking up with eager eyes and an excited smile. "Sure Naruto that sounds great…" Noriko smiled kindly at him and took his outstretched hand as he led him away down a path carved into the side of the mountain and down into the village. 'Grumpy' trailed behind keeping a close watch on the pair._

_They made their way down the thin path carved into the mountain face, the path shimmering into existence before them and fading away behind them, freaking out Noriko at this strange experience. "What is that?" she asked nervously._

_"We have the capability to change our mental space, shape it to shape our needs. This path is a convenient way down the mountain and so it was created and when we no longer need it, it fades away. All of our collective mental space is malleable, we can shape it however we need." Replied the serious Naruto aka 'Grumpy'._

_"What you talking about Grumpy? Come on Noriko I'll show you my place, its super special awesome!" Naruto exclaimed as they reached the bottom of the path, and arrived at the outskirts of the replica Konoha._

_Standing in the outskirts of the village at the bottom of the Hokage monument Noriko noticed how the replica village of Konoha started to look different close up from its real life counterpart. The streets and houses seemed to blend together, lacking distinction and definition. Looking closely at the buildings Noriko saw how the designs and colors repeated themselves in the building patterns; it was difficult to notice, as soon as she looked away for a minute the streets changed subtly, buildings shifting and moving, changing colors. It was difficult to keep track of where they were in the village so Noriko gave up trying to keep her bearings and concentrated on following the blond boy who scampered down the street ahead of her. _

_She couldn't help but smile at the happy child before frowning as she realized where she was and the situation that the boy was in. As she travelled deeper into Konoha, things began to change. Gone were the colorful streets of shifting buildings, instead the architecture took on a bleak style, great grey blocks of buildings made up the city, throwing long shadows into the previously sunny streets. Naruto lapsed into silence as they entered the dark streets, retreating to stand closer to Noriko and the other Naruto's side. "Hurry up" he whispered "I don't like this area, it's not nice." He slipped his small hand into Noriko's and grasped it tightly as he tried to drag her along at a faster pace._

_Noriko looked questioningly at 'Grumpy' wondering about the sudden change, even though Naruto's mind was a unique environment, the sudden change of atmosphere in the village in Naruto's mind was definitely not a good sign. _

_"Like I said, he's an idiot. He lets his own fears influence his mental space instead of controlling it, an idiot." stated Grumpy, watching chibi Naruto contemptuously. _

* * *

_As they continued into the shadows, people began to emerge from the side streets, indistinct shapes in the distance became clearer, taking on the shape of me and women. Noriko was surprised as Naruto's grip on her hand tightened even further and he huddled closer to her as he gave an urgent tug on her hand. Noriko looked closer at the mass of people that had emerged from the shadows, of all different shapes and sizes, adults and children, they filled the sidewalks, seemingly going about their business, perfectly imitating their counterparts in the outside. Naruto walked close to her side, head down, shoulders slumped. Noriko wondered what was going on until she took a closer look at the people thronging the streets. _

_Despite the mass of people bustling through the streets, they produced no noise at all as they went about their way. Although the streets were overflowing as the people made their way back and forth, imitating their counterparts on the outside, Noriko couldn't see any faces in the crowd. The people had no faces! Noriko gasped in horror! Where their features should have been there was nothing! Blank skin instead of eyes and mouths and noses, nothing there! The blank faces turned her way at the noise before ignoring her and continuing on their way. Noriko was thoroughly freaked out and jumped when she heard Naruto's quiet voice beside her: "They ignore me," said the boy in a muffled voice "They always ignore me…please don't ignore me too?" he questioned in a dejected tone that made Noriko want to bend down and hug him._

_"No Naruto don't worry I won't ignore you….I'm here for you." replied Noriko truthfully, despite herself she couldn't help but start to feel attached to the boy. He was just so normal but at the same time damaged… She felt incredibly sorry for what had been done to the boy to cause such a horrifically damaged mind. Naruto squeezed her hand again in thanks as they continued down the shadowy streets, ignoring the faceless people as they were in turn ignored by them. After several minutes of walking they cleared the dark streets and emerged back into the sunshine on the streets at the center of the city. After the dark, the shifting nature of the sunlit buildings was a welcome change. Noriko began to see buildings that were familiar as they made their into the center, there was the ninja academy a building she recognized from her own times there, the hospital loomed menacingly on the right and ahead the Hokage tower rose tall above the city, gleaming bright above the rest of the shifting buildings. _

_Naruto had cheered up considerably on seeing the tower, letting go of Noriko's hand and sprinting ahead, his frown turning into a happy smile, the blank faces of the crowd behind them seemingly forgotten. _

_"Idiot…" grunted the older Naruto from Noriko's side "we have control over the structure of our mental scapes but some of us don't have enough self-control or willpower to enforce our will, instead letting their own fears and desires rule it…"_

_"He's just a little boy…."_

_"Perhaps…..but he's still an idiot."_

_Up ahead Naruto stood in the archway waving eagerly back, a wide smile on his face. The Hokage tower stood unchanging, unpopulated and empty but exuding warmth that Noriko could feel as she approached, warmth that seeped through her skin lifting her spirits. As twisted and messed up as Naruto's mind was, this part was clearly a sanctum, a safe haven for young Naruto that sheltered him against the loneliness of his mind. She smiled as Naruto, glad that at least part of the poor boys mind was a happy place for him. Naruto grinned back, not understanding why this lady was here but glad._

_"Welcome Noriko-chan, this is my precious place, do you want to come in and play?" asked Naruto eagerly. Noriko peeked through the archway into the courtyard of the Hokage tower, battered toys littered the ground, and several stuffed toys were thrown around carelessly around the area. Noriko was loath to refuse the sunny boy but she had to complete her mental assessment of the patient. She had no idea how much time she had left but she had to complete her review and so sadly had no time to play with mentally stunted aspects of her patients imagination. She dreaded her answer of no to the excited boy, fearing the results but she had to get on with her mental tour to complete her evaluation. Noriko opened her mouth to deliver the crushing reply "I'm…" when a welcome but surprising interruption came:_

_"Hey-o gaki! What's kickin little me? Who's the foxy lady there and why's Grumpy looking so miffed?" a manic voice came from above startling Noriko who jumped at the sudden sound. Sitting above their little group relaxing on top of the archway was a tall lanky figure laying sideways on the arch a single leg kicking idly to the side. Clad only in a pair of tight black pants that came down to his calf was he all wore except for a blood red headband wrapped around his head that pushed back long spiky blond hair streaked with red. His face turned sideways to grin down at them, his teeth sharp and pointy with long canines, The whisker marks on his face were thick and pronounced while his eyes were slitted and feral with bright blue iris with red flecks scattered around them. And he was grinning down at Noriko and both other Naruto's with evil in his eyes._

_"You!" Naruto stepped forward protectively, pushing Noriko behind him who was still shocked and a little scared by the sudden appearance of another Naruto. "What are you doing here? I thought I made sure you understood that you weren't to come out!" growled Naruto in a menacing voice. _

_"Oh Grumpy!" the other figure said the name with a malicious pleasure "you should know I can't resist a visitor to our humble home! Plus I kinda wanted say hi to the little gaki here!" the teen swung his other leg of the archway and dropped down to land in crouch next to the young Naruto. Noriko let out a small cry of fear and the sudden movement and Naruto tensed. Little Naruto however didn't flinch, he just grinned a thousand megawatt smile and grabbed hold of the teens arm. _

_"Spikey! Yay you came to visit! It's great to see you again!" chibi Naruto yelled excitedly, jumping up and down as he clung to the other Naruto's arm. 'Spikey's' grin widened even further if that was possible as he looked at the little blond chibi grinning happily beside him and gently tussled his blond locks causing the chibi to momentarily frown before smiling again._

_"Be careful, this aspect is dangerous…he's the part that gets off on the violence and death, this part of me was badly influenced by the chakra of the Kyubi when we had our little accident with Masuka. He's very violent and dangerous, normally I keep him under control but sometimes he gets out…." Muttered the Naruto standing by Noriko's side who was watching this scene with a mixture of confusion and worry._

_"Aaaah, don't worry there __**Grumpy**__ I'm not going to bite!" 'Spikey' crouched down to sling an arm around the chibi's shoulders and knashed his sharp teeth as the chibi Naruto giggled happily. "So mind-fucker lady is here to see if we're gonna be put back on duty or put down? Well don't worry about lil ol me, I'm just here to have a little gander at the hot lady!" he licked his lips and flexed his nails which Noriko just now noticed were very clawlike and sharp, Noriko took a step backwards before the threatening posture dissolved as he collapsed into a heap on the ground laughing uproariously. "HAHAAHahahaaaahahhaha…you should have seen your face! Priceless…classic comedy, it was a joke you dumb slubs! Come on that was funny!"_

_"This is Noriko-chan Spikey! She said she's here to look around and she's super nice!" grinned the little chibi clearly amused by the antics of his threatening friend. Noriko couldn't help but smile at this, feeling less threatened by the second of the strange new Naruto that had arrived. To be honest she was slightly amused by his antics and the fact that the Naruto standing next to her was visibly annoyed by the newcomer if the tic on his eyebrow or clenched fists were any indication. _

_"So you're the gaki's new friend Noriko-chan eh? Good on yer, he needs a better friend than either me or Grumpy there can be! You don't want to trust that one next to you eh, he's a tool nothing else don't forget that! A minion of that mummy…" his speech was interrupted as a hard punch from Naruto knocked him back sending him flying into the side of the Hokage building. _

_"Hey Grumpy what was that for you big jerk! There was no need to hit Spikey you bully!" cried the chibi Naruto as he sprung up before being backhanded viciously knocking him head over heels into the dirt._

_Noriko cried out "What are you doing! Are you crazy, you can't assault you own mind!" She couldn't understand what was happening, how could the mind attack itself so viciously? She knew that Naruto was a unique case but what was happening before her was shocking and should have been impossible! _

_The other Naruto picked himself out of the wall growling viciously, his long hair hanging over his face barely concealing a vicious snarl on his face, showing his elongated teeth while his eyes shone red from behind his the overhanging hair. _

_"__**DON'T TOUCH THE GAKI!**__" he roared before charging at the Naruto standing over the prone form of the small boy, arms spread wide with his claws outstretched. He managed to catch his opponent of guard and caught him round the waist driving him to the ground, straddling his opponents chest he rained blow after heavy blow down into his face. _

_'Grumpy' disappeared suddenly leaving 'Spikey' to smack the hard dirt beneath his fists. He looked up in time to receive a kick straight to his face that sent him spinning away. _

_"Control yourself you idiot! You'll ruin everything!" roared Naruto to his counterpart. The other Naruto lifted himself up out of the dirt growling but made no move to attack. Noriko stood on the sidelines of the confrontation too scared of what was happening to move._

_"Stop…." Croaked the chibi Naruto, "I'm fine really, 'Grumpy' hits like a girl anyway…" as he lifted himself up onto wobbly feet, blood dripping from a nasty cut on his eyebrow. The other two Naruto's eyed each other warily before they slipped into a more relaxed pose, still shooting daggers from their eyes at each other. _

_"What were you doing!? How can you attack your own mind like that?!" questioned Noriko in a hysterical voice, feeling seriously out of depth in the boys mind. _

_"I apologize Yamanaka-sama, but this aspect here was about to reveal information that you do not have clearance to know. I had to prevent him from continuing to speak and the only way to achieve this was through violence. I apologize again that you had to witness this display, I had hoped we would be able to complete this tour without you seeing this aspect of myself. He is erratic and dangerous and I had thought…" here Naruto paused to glare at the other Naruto who was dusting himself of and deliberately ignoring the conversation. "…I thought that he had understood what the consequences would be if he was to disturb us!" _

_"Why did you hit the boy then?" questioned Noriko still shocked by what she had witnessed. "That was completely unnecessary; he was just trying to help!" _

_The boy was limping over to them, with a scrunched up face that looked as if it could burst into to tears at any moment. Noriko couldn't help herself and instinctively went to him to try and comfort the hurt child. He flinched as Noriko reached out but relaxed as her arms swept around him into a warm embrace before hugging fiercely back, determined not to cry. From where she knelt hugging the boy, Noriko squeezed him gently to comfort him and glared at the emotionless Naruto while behind him the violent aspect of Naruto stopped scowling at his attackers back and broke into a wide feral grin._

_"Isn't that sweet! Noriko-chan and little the gaki sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i- um… what?" noticing the glares he once again dissolved into cackles of manic laughter, his fight and anger seemingly forgotten._

_"Idiot…" said the other Naruto. The chibi being hugged by Noriko had blushed a deep red and squirmed his way out of her hug to scowl in what he no doubt thought was menacing but actually was rather cute Noriko thought._

_A low rumble shook the ground and the blue skies darkened momentarily, they all looked up in time to see a jagged crack rip its way across the sky. "Damm it! You've stirred him up now!" exclaimed a suddenly worried Naruto. "This isn't good! I'm sorry Yamanaka-sama but I have to go right now," he stared hard at the two other Naruto's before bolting away suddenly, disappearing rapidly into the distance. Noriko stared after him, shocked by the sudden exit of her supposed guardian and terrified to be left alone with the feral Naruto. "Where are you going? What's going on?" she shouted after him to get no reply._

* * *

_"Uh oh! Looks like mister machine has left us all alone" Naruto grinned and began to walk towards Noriko who shrank back from his advance. "What to do, what to do?" Noriko backed away until she couldn't get any further away and stopped when she felt the wall on her back, shrinking away in fear as Naruto slunk closer and closer, his blood streaked eyes fixed menacingly on hers, lips drawn back over sharp teeth bared in a terrifying smile. Noriko tried to shape the necessary hand signs to cancel the jutsu connecting her mind to Naruto's but her hands were grabbed and she let out a shriek and shut her eyes in fear, feeling hot breath on her face._

_"Nah I'm just kidding! Oh you should have seen your face! Priceless!" Noriko was released and opened her eyes to see the laughing face of the teen who had been menacing her just a second ago. "Ah come on Noriko-chan you should know I would never hurt a friend of chibi-kun's, it was just a joke! Owww!" Naruto clapped his hands on his head as the little Naruto behind him smacked him on the head angrily._

_"Hey don't play mean jokes on Noriko-chan! She's my friend!" chibi Naruto cried. The tension bled out of the air and Noriko relaxed slightly. _

_"I'm sorry Noriko-chan, I was just having my fun….don't get many opportunities for fun in here you know?" Naruto said with a giggle. _

_"What are you?" questioned Noriko. _

_"Well that's a good question, fortunately it's simple to answer…I'm Naruto you dummy!" exclaimed the teen, "and you're supposed to be here to help! Fancy not knowing that!" _

_"You are a very strange part of Naruto's mind…" Noriko was too confused to be scared and was completely unsure of what to do. They all froze as another rumble reverberated through the sky._

_"Okay. What was that?" asked Noriko, brought back from her musings by the noise. _

_"That would be the Kyubi; I think that our little fight stirred him a little from his nap time so Grumpy just ran off to keep it from barging in her and reducing your mind to a nice slimy goo! Don't worry he normally manages to keep it bottled up!" said Naruto with a grin._

_"The Kyubi?...Wait what do you mean normally? Is it going to break free?" _

_"Hehehehehe….don't fret your pretty head about it Noriko-chan, Grumpy is very good at what he does, the bastard…." Muttered Naruto bitterly. "You know what? This is the perfect time to get away from that righteous bastard and give you a proper tour of my mind and I mean a real tour, no holds barred behind the scenes kinda thing. Come on what you say?" Naruto looked questioningly at Noriko as his chibi self who had seemingly lost interest in the conversation and began playing with is toys in the dirt._

_"Wa…Wait, what? What do you mean a tour…I don't…"_

_"A tour. You really think that mister ROOT was gonna show anything of value? The emotionless dick is just going to give you the old whitewash like he was taught."_

_"ROOT? The old special branch of Anbu? I thought they were disbanded…."_

_"Puuuleaase sweet cheeks! The old mummy has been carrying on behind the villages back forever! Come with me and I'll show you all the sweet little secrets that emo boy and mummy man don't want being seen! Tempting huh?" he grinned and beckoned to her before extending a hand tipped with sharp nails. _

_Noriko was intrigued by the offer, the information she was getting just from this conversation not only provided her an insight into Naruto's mind but was giving her some interesting information that would no doubt be of value to the Hokage. She was giving serious consideration to his offer; "What about the other Naruto's?"_

_"Well gaki here will be fine, look at the little brat…" he indicated to the boy in question, who was happily playing with a toad plushy, "and as for the other one…..well he's probably gonna be gone for a while dealing with old nine-tails so we've got a while and anyway he's not gonna dare lay a finger on you….me on the other hand well….come on…it'll be fun!" he promised._

_"I'm not sure…." Noriko was hesitant to accept, worried about trusting this seemingly psychotic aspect of Naruto. "I don't know how much time I have left in your mind…..aah!" Noriko cried out as Naruto grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away. "Stop!"_

_"Come on, you'll love it I promise!" with that, Naruto used one arm to claw at the air, renting a dark hole that he dragged Noriko through. The last thing she saw was the little blond boy playing in the sunshine before she was pulled through the portal._

* * *

_They appeared in a dark landscape in the center of a crater surrounded by thick woods. Dark figures flitted through the shadows of the trees, menacing the two people at the bottom. _

_"What have you done! Where are we?" screamed Noriko in shock. Where they stood, there were bodies littered across the ground, torn into bloody shreds. Broken weapons stuck out of the ground while scars from jutsu's carved chunks from the walls of the crater. The bottom of the crater was filled with blood, sticky, cold , congealing blood, moving her foot in the disgusting pool she felt something bump into it and screamed as a head with its eyes gutted out floated to the surface. She struggled through the pool and scrambled up onto the side of the pit and out of the blood._

_"Ooops! Sorry about that, we didn't exactly come out in the right place…..still it's always nice to visit old memories! Ah good times!"_

_"You maniac what did you do! You can't just drag people through portals, you could have killed me!"_

_"Naaa your good, anyway I thought you wanted to see some of the good old secrets I've got tucked away in here, welcome to my mind!" Naruto cackled happily splashing in the blood. "Good memories of this place, check it; the old man sends me on my first mission after the whole mind shattering thing by your buddy Masuka and I'm all checked out and ready for action, itching to get back to the whole rock'em shock'em business I do best. So I'm out in the woods, got my assignment to take out this big baddy from Iwa, supposed to sneak into their camp and wait up a couple a days so that I can slip him a kunai in the skull nice and quiet like… And I'm lying there strapped to the bottom of cart that bringing supplies into the camp, lax security, easy way in. So the Iwa nins are checking the cart and the driver, lazy amateurs not bothering to check the bottom, usual stuff. And I'm thinking why? Why bother? I'm fed up, bored you know. I drop the cover act and go nuts, I mean just CRAZY! The enemy didn't know what hit em! It was hilarious! I'd dropped about ten of the suckers before anyone clued on enough to counter attack, they do, they suck, I kill them., rip straight through, blood everywhere! _

_The big bad comes out and tries it on, he was actually pretty good. Managed to push me pretty hard, got some teamwork going on with his team and cornered me. There I was bleeding from where several nasty little rock spears had hit me, so I let loose! Let out this huge fireball, blew up everything! Blood and body parts everywhere, sooo awesome…the big bad is still alive but that's about it, he's standing there missing an arm and shaking like a leaf but give the guy his due, still up for the fight." Naruto grinned manically dipping his hand in the pool of blood at his feet, before licking his fingers clean. Noriko was scared but riveted by the story. "I approach him real slow like, smelling his fear and he just stood there shaking. The big tough Iwa ninja finally decides to run away, typical right? So to finish it off I rip out his spinal column! Classic huh?" Naruto collapsed into the puddle of blood splashing around while laughing._

_"You're insane!" said Noriko "How can you just laugh? You butchered those people!"_

_"Yup. But awesome!" he quipped with a happy grin, standing up, dripping in blood._

_"If you're so incredible then how come you were captured and dragged back?" Noriko was interested in Naruto's history and this aspect was very free with information._

_"Ah that's another story, even the best make mistakes and when you have to sprint across an ocean after fighting half the military might of Kiri, pursued by twenty Hunter-nins, I think I can be cut a break…. There I was, doing this super top secret mission; the proper black-ops stuff. I had infiltrated the land of Waves searching for the blood-line camps set up by Yagura, I had my orders…course Danzo didn't trust me for any of the subtle stuff I used to do, the whole shadow in the night thing, after the accident I only got assigned to the messy shit, bust in and knock some skulls of heads, the stuff I loooove to do all blood and guts. Get in, spill some blood, well a lot of bluuuuuud! Get out and home free. The first part went well, lots of blood everywhere… it was the second part that went wrong. Got ambushed, twice! And then when I was bolting for home across the ocean the hunter-nins got me, guess what I was carrying they reaaally wanted back!"_

_"What, what were you carrying?" Noriko asked breathlessly._

_"Ah that's a special little secret that Danzo really wouldn't want me to share….meh doesn't matter, guess I can tell you. I went into Kiri to steal several….ugh…ah nuts!" Blood bubbled from his lips before he collapsed into the blood at his feet, his body disappearing before he could make a splash. _

_"What did you do?" cried Noriko at the stone faced Naruto standing in the puddle holding a bloody tanto in his hand. The landscape collapsed around them, the dark skies and the blood strewn crater vanished leaving Noriko and Naruto standing in the cavern that she had first appeared in. The cavern shook violently, the water that covered the floor rippling. _

_"GET OUT!" roared Naruto, clearly furious. "You're lucky that I have been ordered to keep you safe and that your death would bring considerable problems. You have heard too much already from that dangerous psychotic and if you had heard anymore then I would have been forced to terminate you regardless of my instructions. Get Out Now!"_

_"What did you do!? You just killed him, you killed a part of your mind! You're insane…you're all crazy! How could you do that….."_

_"I SAID GET OUT NOW!"_

_The cavern shook again, this time harder, rocks falling from the ceiling to splash down in the water. From the cage at the end of the cave, something stirred in the darkness. Two huge red eyes opened in the black and Noriko screamed as a deafening roar filled the air and the darkness took her._

* * *

_**Yay! New chapter, hope you enjoyed it! It was a little tricky to write but I think it was alright...hope you all liked and could keep track of the different Naruto's, it was difficult to write but I think it came out alright. The mind thing is like stew: when your cooking stew, different bits bubble up to the surface, you get a bit of meat, some carrots maybe and a bit of potato, then they sink back down and different bits pop up like leek or cabbage but despite whats on the top, their all still part of the stew! I like stew! Plus if anyone can think of a way to put that metaphor into ramen terms would be AWESOME! I know nothing so I appreciate any help on the matter :) Hope to have another chapter up sooooooon! Also do I use too many exclamation marks? **_


	4. Chapter 4

**I do not own Naruto, it is the property of Kishimoto not me...yet! Enjoy the update!**

* * *

"Noriko! Noriko! Can you hear me! Answer me Noriko! Are you okay?"

Noriko opened her eyes, her head pounding from a killer headache. Blurry shapes swam in front of her eyes that slowly began to become more distinctive and take a solid shape of her husband peering worriedly at her, his face creased in panic.

"Inoichi?…Is that you…oh Kami it was awful…." Noriko whispered, feeling weak, her head heavy and her mouth dry. Her chakra was drained, almost completely gone, leaving her feeble as a kitten.

Relief washed over Inoichi's face, and as Noriko's vision cleared she saw the exhaustion etched in his face.

"Yamanaka-san? What are the handsigns for a standard Leaf bunshin?" Asked the medic nin kneeling by her head, his hands glowing green as they cradled her head.

"Wha…um…let me think….rat, boar, monkey, ram?" Noriko replied, disorientated.

"She's okay." the medic confirmed his analysis, "her chakra is depleted but the flow is normal and her brain is fine, just some mild chakra exhaustion and fatigue but otherwise she's okay Hokage-sama." He said to the Hokage who had risen out of his chair and was walking over.

Turning her head Noriko looked at the boy whose mind she had been exploring moments ago, still bound by the wooden shackles his head was slumped down, hair hanging over his face. She felt anger bubble up inside her.

Noriko glanced over, reassured by the presence of her husband and noticed the figure that had been standing by the Hokage's side. "You!" she struggled to get up, brushing of the medic nin and accepting her husband's helping hand. She leant on him for support as her legs wobbled beneath her.

"Easy Noriko…take it slow, you're still weak." Inoichi cautioned her as he held her close to stop her from falling back down, his heart pounding in his chest from relief that his wife was okay. Noriko ignored her husband pushing out of his embrace and tottered on weak legs towards the Hokage, pointing angrily at the man behind him.

"You bastard! You had no damn right to do that to the poor boy! How could you! He was just a child and you….you destroyed him!" she shouted at Danzo who gazed indifferently at the angry woman.

As she tried to reach him, to slap him, hurt him, do something to make him pay for what he had done, her legs gave way under her and she fell into the swift arms of the Hokage who supported her.

"That's enough Noriko," he said sternly but calmly, "you are still weak and this is not the place for such behavior. Inoichi?" he addressed her husband who had rushed over to his wife's side as soon as she had fallen, the Hokage allowed Inoichi to take Noriko into his arms before continuing. "I want Noriko brought to my office straight away..." he held up a hand to forestall Inoichi's protests "she needs to brief me straight away on what happened."

"Yes Hokage-sama" Inoichi replied grudgingly, holding his wife tight in his arms.

"Boar, Cat. Ensure that Danzo is comfortable until I am ready to see him." The Hokage turned to order the two Anbu who took up positions on either side of the bandaged man. Danzo's face was expressionless as he allowed them to escort him out of the room. "I want Naruto to be brought up to my office when he regains consciousness, treat him well but make sure that he cannot escape." Sarutobi nodded to Inoichi and Noriko who was still bubbling with anger before sweeping out of the room, pausing at the door to say. "I trust this goes without saying but everything that has transpired in this room is to remain an S-rank secret and that no one will reveal this information to anyone without my permission?" They all nodded "and thank you for your good work everyone." With that he left, leaving Inoichi and Noriko standing there in the sealed room while the other ninja who had taken par t in the proceedings began to tidy away their work.

"Are you sure your okay to see the Hokage?" questioned Inoichi, "I will be, that poor boy…it could have been Ino….it could have been our girl!" muttered Noriko hugging her husband. "It'll be okay darling, things will be fine." Inoichi reassured her as he helped her out of the room. Noriko glanced back as they left the room at the shackled teen, four masked Anbu soldiers standing by his sides and wondered what was going to happen next.

* * *

Hokage's Office:

Sarutobi let out a deep breath; he couldn't recall when he had last been so angry or tired. The day's events had been very tiring; he wished that the Yondaime was still alive, it would have been impossible for something like this to happen. He hated being the one to send the young men and women of this village to their deaths; he had done enough of that in the last war. If only he had been the one who had died instead of the Yondaime. He pushed the morbid thought away and straightened in his chair to prepare for his next visitor. The meeting with Noriko had not gone well. The things she had told about Naruto's mind and memories had shocked him to the core, his rage at Danzo had been lost in his sorrow at what had happened to poor Naruto. He hated himself for not being more involved in the boy's life, not done more to be there for him, not taken more interest. And now the hero that protected the village had been turned into a broken weapon, reduced to a puppet for Danzo. Curse that man! Noriko had let loose a virulent stream of invective to express her feelings for the man who had trained Naruto that had reflected his own feelings quite well. He buzzed his secretary to send in the next group and prepared himself for what would probably be the worst part of the night so far. Kami he hoped it was, it couldn't get any worse!

Noriko leant on Inoichi's shoulder as she left the Hokage's office, feeling better for the rant that she had let out, despite Inoichi's embarrassment at her strong language. As far as she knew her part in this affair was over, the Hokage had requested her help in assessing Naruto's mental state, she had delivered her opinion and more beside, now it was over. She was relieved that it was over but she still wanted to help Naruto, but that would be up to the Hokage to decide. Stepping into the lobby, she saw Naruto standing there, flanked by his four Anbu guards. Noriko looked at him, staring into his blank eyes that seemed to look straight past her; she shuddered at the look, remembering the rage in Naruto's mind before she had been kicked out. As she turned to leave she saw Naruto turn his head and suddenly his face changed; his eyes lit up, gleaming a bright blue and across his face a smile spread which he turned on Noriko's surprised face. She gasped, his face bringing back her memories of the happy little blond Naruto playing in the sunshine beneath the Hokage tower in his mind, then it was gone, his face resuming it blank state as though the smile had never happened. She continued to look back over Inoichi's shoulder as he shepherded her out of the building intent on getting her to the hospital. The doors to the Hokage's office and opened and the Anbu guard ushered Naruto through before they closed once again behind him.

Sarutobi looked at the boy in front of his desk, standing rigidly to attention his face wary. Danzo stood in the corner, comfortable in the shadows, silent. He had dismissed the guards and ordered Naruto unshackled, and now they were alone.

"Naruto, do you recognize me?" the Hokage asked.

"Yes sir, you are the Hokage of the village."

"Yes I am but do you remember me?"

Naruto looked at Danzo hesitantly, "You are to answer all of the Hokage's questions truthfully and without reservation, that's an order." Danzo said, stepping forward out of the dark corner.

"I…yes sir, I do remember you."

"What do you remember?"

"You used to visit me when I was younger; you would take me for food and bring me presents on my birthdays. You were kind."

"That's correct." Sarutobi was disturbed by the matter of fact tone with which Naruto spoke. "I am worried about you Naruto, ROOT is no place for a young child and I'm concerned about how it affected you. You have been subjected to things that would be seen as extreme even by some of the most experienced shinobi in our village, from what I've been told of your activities you are already an extremely skilled ninja but it's not your skills I'm worried about. From what Noriko Yamanaka told me, I'm quite concerned about your mental state, tell me, where you happy doing your work?"

"Happy? My happiness has no relevance to the safety of the village."

Sarutobi winced; he should have been expecting that. ROOT was infamous for its strict emotional training; he had heard of Danzo's methods and even seen a couple of examples but to see it in Naruto was painful.

"Okay, I'll rephrase that; do you carry out your job well?"

"Yes sir, I am a highly skilled member of ROOT and useful to the organization. I was able to carry out the missions assigned to me without failure even after the incident with the rogue Yamanaka."

"Is that how you see yourself? As useful?"

"Yes sir, I am…. I was useful to the village." Naruto looked upset and focused his eyes on the ground.

Sarutobi sighed, he didn't want to do this part but it was his only option at the moment, hopefully it would even be good for the boy, still he hated to use the boy. Damn Danzo and his scheming brain, the idea he had suggested had been good but he still had an strong distrust for anything that man put forward!

"Naruto, would you like to remain useful to the village?" asked the Hokage with a heavy heart.

Naruto looked up, an expression of puzzlement and hope on his face that momentarily lifted Sarutobi's heart.

"Hokage-sama….I thought….I thought that I had failed?" He glanced at Danzo looking for confirmation.

"Naruto, every ninja experiences failure, it shapes us and helps us grow. I would like to give you another assignment." offered the Hokage.

"Hokage sir, I would be honored if you saw fit to give me another chance…I only wish to be of use to the village sir. I would be honored if the Hokage and Danzo-sama allowed me to return to the ROOT."

"ROOT?!" the Hokage was startled but he had anticipated this possibility, ROOT was known for its indoctrination. "I'm afraid that is not possible Naruto, understand that if you are to return you will be serving me and not Danzo. You will swear your loyalty to me and the village and disassociate yourself from Danzo and ROOT." This was the tricky part, despite what had been arranged with Danzo beforehand.

Naruto looked from Danzo to Sarutobi, unsure of what was going on, he was never given a choice. In ROOT you were given your orders and carried them out or died trying. This was new experience for him and he was very confused. He wanted to continue to be useful but without Danzo and ROOT what would he do?

"Naruto, listen to me." Danzo spoke up "This is what must happen, you are to accept the Hokage's offer and serve him from now on. That is an order!"

Naruto nodded, orders he understood; "I understand sir, Hokage-sama I will serve you."

Sarutobi hadn't wanted for Danzo to have to order Naruto into his service but if this was the way it had to be then…. "Danzo you had something else to say as well didn't you?"

"Ah yes… Naruto listen carefully: I hereby give you an excutive order; you are from now on to take orders only from the Hokage, obey his commands and carry out his commands to the best of your ability, furthermore you are after acknowledging this order to disregard any further orders from me or ROOT. Acknowledge order." Danzo ordered.

He had been very reluctant to let Naruto go but Hiruzen had been quite adamant and he had other choice at the moment, it could even work to the village's advantage if Hiruzen decided to accept his proposal. A shame to lose such a skilled agent but still it wasn't a complete loss, while security had been concentrated around Naruto during the mental assessment; two of his agents had managed to steal the scrolls Naruto had brought back without any problems. They would be a nice piece of compensation for the loss of Naruto as long the contents were still fresh.

Naruto knelt before the Hokage, touching his forehead to the floor, "I acknowledge the order and swear fealty to you, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Hokage of Konoha."

It was done thought Sarutobi, he wished it could have been done another way but now that it was done, it was time to test just how honest Danzo had been…

"Naruto, thank you. I accept your service. So now you will obey my orders alone?" asked the Hokage, steepling his fingers into the evil pyramid of doom and leaning back in his chair and narrowing his eyes. Danzo also narrowed his eyes wondering where this was going; he hadn't thought Hiruzen would accept just the word of him and Naruto and had anticipated some type of test but what sort of test…

"Yes Hokage-sama, I am yours to command."

"Good, now I order you kill Danzo!" ordered the Hokage pointing at the surprised man in the corner.

Without hesitation, Naruto sprang to attack. Leaping across the room in a blur he landed in front of Danzo and with a powerful kick launched him across the room. He prepared to follow up his attack, fingers weaving together in handsigns as he channeled chakra to form a powerful jutsu…

"Stop!" barked Sarutobi from his seat, stopping Naruto immediately who let the chakra he had gathered for the jutsu dissipate and step back. "Stand down Naruto that was a test."

Danzo coughed as he brought himself back up onto his feet clutching his chest where he had been kicked, "Was that really necessary Hiruzen?" glaring at the Hokage who let a smirk form on his face.

"I'm sorry Danzo but I had to make sure…" he turned his gaze to Naruto who was standing at attention. "Well done Naruto, sorry to test you but I had to make sure that you would obey my orders and I think it's safe to say that you passed." The Hokage couldn't help but grin at the sight of Danzo rubbing his chest in pain. "Naruto, I have an idea of what your place in this village will be but I have no firsthand information about yours skill, only what others have told me. So before I assign you any duties, you will undergo a test so that I can properly your level, can you first give me an idea of what level you're at?"

"My level? I don't understand?" questioned Naruto, addressing the Hokage directly, ignoring the wheezing Danzo behind him.

"I mean your skill level? Your physical prowess, jutsu skills, just give me an idea of what you can do."

"I am a trained member of the ROOT, level has no relevance, you are either capable of completing the mission or not. All ROOT members are given training relevant to their duties, I was prepared for a wide variety of missions so my skills are also varied."

"Well that's not very helpful," Hiruzen sent a glare at the still recovering Danzo, "Very well, I will schedule an assessment of your skills; it will have to be soon… but you'll need time to recover…"

"Hokage-sama I will be perfectly capable of completing any test now. In the field we are not allowed to choose the timing of our encounters." Naruto stated.

"While that is admirable Naruto, I insist that you rest. I have arranged accommodation for you to stay in now that you're a part of the regular shinobi forces, you'll be given three days to rest after which you will meet me back here to undertake your test. Is that understood?" questioned Sarutobi.

"Yes sir."

"Good now I want you to leave, I have much to discuss with Danzo. There is an Anbu member outside who will escort you to your new place, I hope you will understand that for security reasons you will be confined to your home until you come back here. During that time I hope you will have recovered sufficiently for the test, you will be provided with rations that should be more than enough for your needs. Naruto this is important; you must not leave your home or be seen by anyone other than the Anbu members who will check in on you and in three day they will collect you and bring you to the testing area."

"That is understood Hokage-sama. Your concern for my wellbeing is unnecessary; with some sleep I will be fine."

"None the less, you will do as I say. Now go and I hope to see you again in three days under better circumstances."

"Yes sir." Naruto bowed respectfully and turned to leave the office.

"Naruto…" the Hokage said as Naruto reached the door and went to close them behind him. "I'm sorry."

Naruto just looked at him puzzled before settling for nodding his head and departing.

* * *

The Hokage watched Danzo carefully; as angry as he was with the manner in which Danzo had treated Naruto, he was still an old friend. As odd as it seemed, their constant bickering and rivalry had benefited the village from the start of his rule; Danzo providing a valuable dissenting opinion in times when others would have agreed with the Hokage. Their unspoken agreement had strengthened and protected the village from its enemies and now would not be the time to throw it away because of one boy. It was terrible what had happened to Naruto and he sorely regretted not keeping a closer eye on the boy but what was done was done. His rage at Danzo from earlier had dissipated, it was still there but he had long ago learnt to control his temper. It would be of no benefit to publicly chastise Danzo now; he had no wish to expose ROOT and its various operations.

Still it had been a trying and long day, now the two old men sat in the Hokage's office. Saurtobi had assigned two Anbu members to watch him but he was fairly certain that they would not be needed, but still as Hokage he had to ensure the safety of the village.

"You're a lucky man Danzo, if the jounin's agree with your plan then I won't be forced to remove your other arm!" threatened Sarutobi halfheartedly. Danzo laughed knowing the threat was empty.

If they do agree then hopefully Naruto will have a chance for some semblance of normalcy now he's not running around doing your dirty work." muttered Sarutobi as he smoked his pipe, gazing at his old rival who was seated opposite him.

"You were always to soft Hiruzen, that's why you still need me."

"And you were always a bitter old war hawk! I tolerated your indulgences with ROOT but I can't believe that you had the nerve to take Naruto!"

"I did what you wouldn't do, as always! He became a powerful asset to this village, dedicated and loyal. Did you really believe he had any hope of a normal childhood amongst the villagers? He would have grown up bitter and a danger to us all! He was destined for great things and I did what I had to!"

"You're a real bastard Danzo. The plan may work out for the best but you still went too far with the boy!"

"Well it's done now Hiruzen, and hopefully he will still be able to serve the village despite your foolish ideas!"

"Get out!" shouted Sarutobi, angered by Danzo's arrogance, "Go now before I change my mind and have your head chopped off!"

Danzo got up and left, slamming the doors shut behind him, leaving the Hokage alone in his office as the first hints of dawn poked their way into the sky and through his windows. Sarutobi was tired and angry. He needed a solid nights rest, his entire body was sore and filled with aches. 'I'm sorry Naruto, but hopefully I will be able to make up for what has happened somehow…' he thought as prepared to leave and finally go to bed.

* * *

Naruto lay on his bed in his new apartment, well he supposed it was his now, thinking to himself. Trying to order his thoughts, it was all very well maintaining a professional demeanor whilst on a mission or around others but when he was by himself he had to take the opportunity to let his mind relax. It was one of the first things that had been taught to him after he had been retrieved from the Yamanaka incident, it helped keep his mind calm and ordered.

What a day! Lucky the Hokage hadn't decided to execute him, guess I'm too valuable to get rid of yet! A shame he was no longer part of ROOT, their missions had been good fun. Still not a complete loss on that front, the Hokage was sure to stop watching him closely eventually and when he did, Danzo would contact him with new orders. The stunt in the Hokage's office wasn't unexpected, Danzo and him and made several contingency plans in the event of his capture and it was quite fun to smack the old mummy around a bit. He chuckled to himself.

That was the thing with ROOT, once you were in you never got out…. I'll play around a bit in the village, be the perfect little ninja for the Hokage and then back to black ops and assassinations! He itched for a bit of bloodshed, ever since the accident it was like a drug, the feel of blood on his skin, the taste of an enemies fear…so good. Eugh, stupid Mist ninja's… he had been free and clear of their borders when they had ambushed him, why couldn't they have just let him go! He wouldn't have had to kill so many, not that he minded the killing but not when it interfered with his mission. It had been his own fault, hurrying to make his escape he had run straight into a pair of Mist nins returning from a mission. Random chance and it had almost scuppered the entire operation

It would have been so much easier, a quick stop in the woods on the shore to recover his chakra then a flat sprint to Konoha to slip quietly into one of the ROOT bases. He would have dropped of his mission report then been able to crash in a quiet corner somewhere…none of this mind rape bullshit that had been forced on him. Stupid Yamanaka's! Seriously who prances around in someone else's mind then expects them to be all cool with? At least the scrolls he had brought back were probably safe… the interrogation team would have opened them to find a nifty list of secret Kiri jutsu's, an added bonus for them but the real contents was hidden behind a special ROOT cipher. He was sure Danzo would have retrieved them by now, he better have! Naruto didn't want all his hard work and pain wasted if the contents of the scrolls went off! It had been tough and bloody work to fill the scrolls special containers but oh well… it was out his hands now.

He tossed and turned on his new bed, unused to the soft feeling of a mattress beneath him. He longed to run and hide, find a secret place where no one could find him…but that wouldn't do, he was the Hokage's ninja now and he could sense the presence of the his watchers making sure he was at home. Just feeling, an instinct he had honed through many hard years and he knew to trust his instincts, they had saved his life countless times. Naruto wondered what the Hokage's test of his abilities would be? A fight surely, maybe a mission…nah they wouldn't let him out of the village yet, so yes a fight. How much to show and what to hide that was the question…. He would pass no worries but still…. The possibilities of his future had opened up and he was eager to taste them. Anbu duty beckoned, it would be good to still be working with professionals…surely that was where he was going, it was only logical. Still the Hokage had sounded like he was worried about him, maybe he had some hair brained scheme to try to assuage some misplaced guilt….yeah like appoint him as a jounin sensei for a bunch of student's fresh out of the academy to teach or some such shit! Naruto laughed, ah what a dumb idea! Yeah Anbu for sure…. He couldn't wait for the test, he had pretty much recovered from his injuries and the luxury of his apartment though basic, a veritable palace compared to his ROOT quarters, would make his stay quite pleasant. Hell he had once spent four days without sleep in a sewage pipe, waiting to assassinate his target.

* * *

Kakashi wandered through the streets of Konoha, his nose deep in a certain orange book, seemingly engrossed in its contents as he effortlessly navigated the busy streets. But appearances can be deceiving and his mind was actually busy on other things than the masterpiece of writing that Jiraiya had concocted. He had been keeping his ear to the ground ever since he had left the Anbu, his last mission had been to investigate the death of Masuka Yamanaka and the presence of the Kyubi's chakra. It had not gone well. He had heard of Naruto's disappearance and felt awful that he hadn't been there for the boy…after his sensei's death, he had thrown himself back into his Anbu work unwilling to face his friends or colleagues, then Naruto had gone missing… Now something was going on in Konoha, he could sense it. He might be out of Anbu but he still hung around with its members now and again and an open ear and observant eyes were always hangy. A few days ago, an Anbu patrol had returned early, not something most people would notice but he had, then an Anbu member had been put into intensive care as a vegetable, the lights in the Hokage's tower had been on all night and the Anbu who guarded the Hokage were being unusually secretive. Kakashi knew something was up, he just didn't know what… something was definitely going down and he had a horrible suspicion that it was going to involve him. He sighed unhappy that he couldn't focus on his all important reading, putting his book away; he jumped from the street onto the rooftops and made his way to the Rusty Kunai, a popular ninja bar frequented by the higher echelons of Konoha shinobi.

The bar was noisy despite it being the middle of the day, and a chorus of greetings washed over Kakashi as he entered. After some perfunctory hellos, Kakashi grabbed a drink and made his way to the back of the bar where the more committed drinkers were busy drowning their various worries. He instinctively homed in on a small group of off-duty Anbu, his curiosity from earlier re-kindled by what he saw at the table. His uncovered eye was drawn to two of the Anbu members who wore a Cat and Boar pushed up on their heads, he knew Cat as Yugao, an old friend from his Anbu day while Boar was a relatively new addition to the Anbu who Kakashi didn't know. His keen eye picked up little details that Cat and Boar were trying to hide… a wince when Cat picked up her drink, Boar was sitting in a careful posture being careful not to twist or bend his torso, they were injured, not badly but certainly they had taken a serious knocking around. That was odd, he knew that Boar and Cat had been part of the Hokage's protection detail, and that there had been no attempts on his life, such an event would have been instant news all over the village. No, something else had happened, something different, something connected.

"Hey Yugao what's up with the injuries, you piss off the old man something fierce or what?" Kakashi asked. Not exactly subtle but hey he was tired of beating around the bush.

"Fuck you Kakashi! When was the last time you did any real work eh? I've heard you've been getting slack since you got appointed as jounin sensei! Still haven't passed a team yet huh? Replied Yugao, trying not to wince from her various injuries.

"What can I say Yugao, I guess my standards are just too high." Kakashi eye smiled leaning towards her. "At least I'm not getting beaten up by an old man, what you do? Forget to put sugar in his tea?" He patted her back in mock sympathy, as she winced in pain from his light touch.

"Shut it Kakashi," Yugao growled, "you have no idea what me and Boar went through, it was a damn massacre…"

"Cat, silence! We're not allowed to talk about it!" Boar cautioned her.

"Oh shut it Boar, Kakashi's cool, you're so damn stuck up!" Yugao snapped back.

Kakashi simply continued to smile, they had already dropped enough information for him to be going on with, it had confirmed his suspicions that there was something going on, but what was it? He stayed at the bar for a while longer, but Yugao had clammed up and Boar was making sure that she didn't say anything more. He left the bar after a couple of hours, a wee bit drunk, reeking of alcohol. His earlier suspicions and theories had been forgotten in his drunken haze, instead his mind was now thinking of his next genin team, it was still another 4 months until graduation but he enjoyed tormenting the cute little genin's! Ah what fun, he hoped this year's graduating class would be as amusing as last year's bunch!

* * *

The Hokage shuffled his paperwork on the desk, he really should get round to doing it at some point… Naruto's assessment of his skills had gone well, the boy had mopped the floor with Boar and Cat, truly remarkable how skilled he was, suppose he could thank ROOT and Danzo for that. It was just a pity that the ROOT had such barbaric training methods, but you could say what you wanted about ROOT, they got results! He had just had Naruto in his office to inform him of his decision about his placement within Konoha's ninja forces, which had been more amusing than it should have. It had been nice to see such a human reaction from the previously emotionless boy, even anger had been good to see, it meant there was still something human within the boy. He honestly couldn't wait for Naruto's mission to begin; it was going to be interesting.

* * *

Naruto stood stock still in the hallway; he couldn't believe the Hokage had done this to him! The bastard! His emotions were proving extremely difficult to control, he was shaking trying to stop himself from screaming in rage. He would rather face the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist than be here now, truly this was an awful fate. But despite his anger he couldn't repress some small stupid part of him that was excited and eager to start. Damn it!

At least he was prepared, he had all the equipment he needed to carry out his assignment, he had a small canvas bag with the necessary tools in and instead of the usual dark blue ninja outfit he normally wore when conducting missions he had gotten an outfit from a tailor especially for this mission. He wore a skin tight black long sleeved top, across which were crisscrossed a pair of bandoliers, their pouches filled with an assortment of gear. This couldn't be seen as his entire torso was concealed behind an overly large hoody that rested baggily of his shoulders, the hood hung low over his face, almost meeting the high thick collar that came up to his nose, concealing half his face, the space between the hood and the collar creating a thin slit which allowed Naruto to see out but kept the interior of the hood dark so no one could see his face. The hoodies sleeves were too long, with wide loose cuffs that kept his hands hidden, allowing him to perform hand signs unseen or detected. He wore loose but not too baggy pants that were taped around the ankles where they met a pair of grey combat boots. His outer clothing was a pale grey, with darker smudges of grey and black and patches of white. The effect of the strange coloring made him extremely difficult to see as he blurred with the background of the corridor.

He took a deep breath to calm his rage and cursed the Hokage for one last time before opening the door and stepping through to start his mission. "Naruto Uzumaki reporting for class Iruka-sensei" announced Naruto in a quiet and resigned voice as he stepped into the academy classroom.

* * *

**Okay, hope the chapter's alright, I'm sorry for the slow update but I really hated the first draft so I ended up rewriting it completely, still not totally happy with it but I reckon it's alright. Hope you guys enjoy it too!**

* * *

**A spot of the Sillies:**

**"How could you do that to Naruto you power crazed bastard!" shouted the Hokage.**

**"You don't have enough badges to control me!" shouted Danzo as he flapped his wings and spouted fire from his mouth before flying out the window.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay sorry for the slow update, traveling home for the holidays and other excuses and candy dragons and things...**

**Plus YAY! First reviews ever so that was exciting! Many thanks to imsabbel and naruhana for their lovely comments! Hope you continue to enjoy!**

**I do not own Naruto, it is the property of Kishimoto and the Brain Slug Overlords Inc. Enjoy the story and Merry Seasonal Gorging Day to you all!**

* * *

The classroom was busy and filled with noisy students; their teacher had only just come in and was still sorting out homework at his desk. The students still had a few precious moments to yell and scream and shout at each other before Iruka-sensei made them shut up and settle down for another boring lesson! Kiba and a random civilian kid squabbled noisily in the middle row, Akamaru yipping to be heard above the two boys. Ino was hanging out with her girlfriends, gossiping together in a little huddle, discussing boys and how they compared to their beloved Sasuke. The boy in question was sitting in the front row, trying to ignore the chatter behind him, it wasn't easy but he was managing it. He thought of how great it would be if all those useless fangirls would just shut up….what sort of forbidden jutsu could do that? His hopeful thoughts of peace and quiet were interrupted as he saw the door to the classroom open, his classmates were too busy with each other to notice but he did. He saw a strangely garbed boy enter, dressed in an oddly colored outfit that seemed to blur and blend with the background, what was this? "Naruto Uzumaki reporting for class Iruka sensei." Came a quiet voice from within the darkness of the figures hood, Sasuke was impressed; the newcomer seemed even less eager than him to be in the classroom, maybe he too suffered from an affliction of fangirls?

"Ah, welcome Naruto-san. I understand your going to be joining us?" Iruka smiled at the boy in the doorway a bit put out by his strange outfit, he dislike not being able to see his students faces and the way this one was dressed reminded him too much of young Shino… Still he could understand why Naruto might not want people to see him. From what he had heard and what the Hokage had told him when he had been informed that Naruto would be joining his class, Naruto had been isolated for many years before his breakdown and confined to a mental hospital in the village after a breakdown. The poor boy was only just now ready to be integrated back into regular society. The Hokage had told Iruka that Naruto had received private tutoring as part of his treatment and that he would excel in his class, Iruka certainly hoped so; he would hate to tell the Hokage the bad news if Naruto failed at the end of the year.

"Yes Iruka-sensei."

At least he was respectful, Iruka thought. "Very good Naruto, CLASS!" Iruka shouted to gain the attention of his students, "I would like you all to give a very warm welcome to Naruto Uzumaki who will be joining our class." The students dutifully chorused their hellos, now paying attention to the newcomer who tried to shrink away from their stares. "Naruto would you care to say a few words about yourself to the class?" Iruka asked.

"um…no thank you Iruka-sensei, I would rather not." Naruto muttered.

"Come on, no one's going to bite. Well apart from Kiba!" Iruka joked to try to lighten the boy's mood. "Hey I resent that!" cried Kiba amidst the laughter of his classmates. Naruto just stood there, his hood tilted down, silently shuffling his feet. "Alright Naruto, there's no need to introduce yourself yet, why don't you go take a seat….anywhere's fine." Iruka said kindly as Naruto stepped forward and turned his hood side to side looking for somewhere to sit. Under the gaze of the curious students, Naruto made his way up the side of the classroom to grab a seat on the nearly deserted back row. He sat down, ignoring the stares and curious looks, getting out a notepad and paper. "Right everyone, I'm sure you can all study Naruto later but for now we have to get on with the class. Okay today we will be learning about the founding of Konoha…"

A chorus of groans greeted this announcement as they turned away from Naruto and opened their books. Naruto glanced around; there were only two other people on the same row as him, Shikamaru and Choji, two prominent clan children. Choji gave him a hesitant wave which he ignored while Shikamaru merely grunted and went back to sleep. Naruto looked away and scanned the rest of the class, taking in who was were and what they were doing in one brief glance. It had been part of his training in ROOT to know all important shinobi in the village as well as their children; you never knew when you would need to know such things and it was handy now.

He sighed again at the tiresome nature of his mission, glancing up as Shikamaru sneezed and glared at him for some reason, then settled down to listen to his teacher. ROOT hadn't been very big on the whole history thing, their lessons where more on how to kill a man without leaving any trace than who the First Hokage's sister's second cousin had been. He actually found it quite interesting and paid close attention to Iruka as the other students dialed out.

A new student, Sasuke thought, I wonder why he's only joining now… He must be pretty good if he was allowed to join a graduating class… "Sasuke-kun, do you want to look at my notes?" Damn, it was Sakura who had claimed the spot next to him, just great. He responded with his usual "Hnn," ignoring Sakura and feigning interest in Iruka's lecture.

* * *

The Hokage jumped as the doors to his office banged open and Kakashi stormed in. "How could you not tell me! You should have let me know straight away, not finding out like this, from Iruka of all people!" he yelled, to angry to pay the Hokage the proper respect due.

"Kakashi, calm down and explain! What do you think you are doing barging in here like this?!" Sarutobi had a pretty good idea of what had got Kakashi so steamed up but he didn't want to tell him anymore than he had to.

"Don't play dumb with me! Naruto! What, did you think that I was just never going to find out?" Kakashi paced up and down in the office, gesturing wildly in the air as the Hokage sat back in his chair. Okay this he had expected, he had known Kakashi would find out about Naruto being in the academy, he had been depending on it in fact. He had long ago learnt that it was better for people to believe that they had chosen their course rather than have it forced upon them.

"Naruto, oh yes you heard that he has been cleared for duty from the hospital? Excellent news isn't it?"

"Don't try to feed me that line you gave out to Iruka and the rest, oh a mental hospital very original! I was on the damn Yamanaka mission; I know what happened to him! How the hell did he go from unleashing bloody chaos on a bunch of rock nins to sitting in class at the academy?" Kakashi leant forward over the Hokage's desk looking him square in the eye. "You owe me an explanation Hokage-sama!"

"Do I? You chose to run back of to Anbu when I offered you the job of protecting Naruto, you were never there in his life so what right do you have to come in here now!?"

"You know that's not how it was… it different, he was just a boy, I thought…." Kakashi was stricken by the Hokage's words, his anger from earlier was gone, replaced by guilt and shame.

"I know Kakashi, as you should know that there are certain details of Naruto's return that are classified and must remain so. All you need to know is that now he is back and at the end of the year he will graduate and join the forces of Konoha. Now then if that's all you need then can you please leave the office, and quietly this time." Sarutobi motioned to the door but Kakashi didn't leave.

"I know what happened to Masuka, the Kyubi's chakra was all over that place. I know it wasn't coincidence that Naruto turned up, he's been trained. Otherwise Cat and Boar wouldn't have been needed to test him and judging by their injuries, he's pretty good. You want his past covered up? That's fine, I'm not going to dig any further if you order me not to, but I want him."

"What?"

"I want Naruto for my genin team. And if his team doesn't pass the genin test then I'll take him as my apprentice."

Sarutobi had to suppress a grin; it was good to be so skilled at manipulating people! Kakashi had walked right into what he had planned; it was good to be Hokage sometimes. Still it was worrying that Kakashi had managed to piece so many bits together. "Your concern is touching but his placement is my decision. I have still not decided whether Naruto will be placed on a team or not, besides it will be six months before he graduates, I will let you know then what my decision will be. Until then you will not approach Naruto at all and you will not attempt to pursue your suspicions any further, understood?" Kakashi nodded. "Now Kakashi, you are dismissed."

"Yes sir," Kakashi bowed before leaping through the window, shattering the glass.

"Damn it Hatake!"

* * *

The academy was bustling with activity, students and teachers all busy with their various tasks, the sound of studious students studying filled the air. Out in the yard, teens drilled their taijutsu moves under the watchful eye of a chunin instructor. Iruka sat in his deserted classroom studying his students records, his class had gone off with Mizuki for a nice long run around Konoha, giving him at least forty minutes of peace and quiet until they returned. He hoped the Inuzaka boy would be tired out from the run, god that boy was a menace! He was busy studying Naruto's record from his brief time at the academy, the kid was the perfect student in all ways but one; he was never late, never got involved with fights, was always respectful to his teachers and his fellow students, turned in his homework on time and most unusually always paid attention in class. Unlike most of the other students who dozed of f in the middle of his lectures from time to time, Naruto always paid attention. He was a perfect student that any teacher would be happy to have in their class; the only problem was that despite his rapt attention, perfect attendance record and hard work, he currently sat at the bottom of the class in his grades! Naruto was barely staying in the class, if his grades dropped any further then he wouldn't stand a chance for graduation, the boy worked hard but it didn't seem to translate into results. Iruka felt sorry for the boy, he knew Naruto had only just gotten out of treatment and he feared what would happen if he failed, it was unfair of the Hokage to expect someone to graduate after only 6 months at the academy.

Iruka had tried to help the boy, trying to put his anger at Kyubi away to help what he knew was an innocent boy who had been treated terribly by the village, but Naruto just made it so hard. He was always so quiet and innocuous, staying out of sight and never talking unless pressed. He supposed it was only natural for the boy to withdraw into himself after the way he had been treated but still… His damn getup didn't help either, the boys clothing seemed to let him blend in with whatever he was standing in front of. Even when Naruto was directly in front of him he had to force his eyes to focus on him otherwise they just slid off, you couldn't even look the boy in the eye when trying to get him to talk, his hood seemed to absorb light shrouding his face in shadows. The only reason Iruka knew what Naruto looked like was because he was one of the few teachers who had access to his student record inside of which was included a photo for identification. He had been surprised by what Naruto looked like under the hood, he had no idea of when the photo had been taken but it showed Naruto as a pale skinned boy with slicked back spiky pale blond hair than reached his shoulders and an empty expressionless face. He laughed, maybe it was a good thing that Naruto wore a hood, the girls at the academy seemed to have a thing for the pale broody ones, the last thing he needed was another distraction for his potential kunoichi's in the class.

Shuffling through Naruto's file he looked back at the records and comments from his first week at the academy.

_"Hey new kid, fight me." Naruto turned his head to study his would be challenger from where he sat in the shade of the tree he was lying under. Sasuke Uchia stood over him, looking down with a frown on his face. "Didn't you hear me? I said I want to fight!" Sasuke was irritated, the new kid was seemingly ignoring him, he opened his mouth to shout at him and almost missed Naruto's respone. "no."he said in a barely audible voice, resuming his relaxed position. By now a small crowd of students had gathered around the pair, half curious about the newcomer to their school and half wanting to see a fight. Sasuke was stunned by Naruto's reply, and could only let out a rather lame "Why?"_

_"it's not allowed, students aren't permitted to fight outside practice. sorry."_

_"Coward!" Some kids in the crowd around them let out some oooh's at this insult, not up for a higher level of goading, as off balance as Sasuke by the new kid's attitude. Sasuke kicked himself mentally for the lame insult, as it provoked no reaction from Naruto who continued to lie on the grass completely ignoring the crowd around him. A few of the boys were chortling at Sasuke's treatment while a couple of girls were whispering to each other about the cool newcomer, his hidden face and offhand manner adding to his mystery. Sasuke angry at being ignored drew back his leg and attempted to deliver a swift kick to the prone boy's abdomen. _

_"Sasuke Uchia!" the voice of Iruka came from behind the crowd, "You know it's against the rules to fight outside of practice, shame on you! Picking on your new classmate on his first day, I would have expected this from Kiba…"_

_"Hey!" an indignant cry came from the crowd of students._

_"…but from you! You will accompany me to the Headmaster's office immediately!"_

_"Fine, if you're too afraid to fight then so be it. I don't beat on coward's anyway." Sasuke stalked of his nose in a sling trailed by several fangirls as he followed Iruka back into the building while the crowd dispersed. A few stayed behind to try to chat with Naruto about what happened, awed by his treatment of the top of the class but soon left, pissed off at the silent treatment the newcomer was giving them as he refused to reply to even their most basic questions._

_Sasuke got his wish to fight Naruto the next day, at taijutsu practice when he was volunteered to be matched up against the new kid. He was eager to fight him, eager to prove himself and test his skills. He knew there was something special about Naruto, why else would some stranger who he had never heard of before be allowed to join a graduating class unless he had the skills to back it up. As he stepped into the ring he smirked his trademark grin at Naruto, causing serious swooning amongst his female classmates where watching, "I'm looking forward to this dobe, come on; show me what you got!" Naruto just stood there in indifferent silence. Despite his bravado, Sasuke was unnerved by the silence of his opponent._

_They both bowed to each other at the prompting of Iruka who was overseeing the spar, before Sasuke sprang at Naruto as the whistle went. He watched Naruto slide into a sloppy version of the stance taught at the academy and attempt to block his right hook that he threw, while kicking out with his leg to try to catch Naruto off guard. The blows connected and sent Naruto tumbling away in the dirt. Sasuke was stunned, he hadn't expected to hit him, even Shikamaru could have blocked that. He watched as Naruto lay there not moving, momentarily struck by guilt as he worried that his earlier thoughts about Naruto being special were wrong and that he had just callously knocked out a new student who had only just joined their class. Iruka hurried over to Naruto who was still unmoving, "Naruto? Naruto, are you okay?" asked Iruka, shaking Naruto gently while glaring at Sasuke. "That was too rash of you Sasuke, he hasn't had a chance to try out the academy style yet, you should have been more careful!"_

_"Uh….I'm injured Iruka-sensei, I will require medical attention…" Naruto spoke up in a quiet voice, sitting on the ground holding his head in his hands. Sasuke glared at him, what a disappointment! He had hoped that Naruto would have been a challenge for him and now it looked like he was more useless than Sakura at fighting! The dobe shouldn't even be in this class, it wasn't his fault if he had injured him!_

_"Of course Naruto, I'll help you to the nurse…" Iruka was glad that Naruto was conscious, he supposed he should never have let Sasuke fight him, it was just unreasonable to expect him to be able to fight at that level yet._

_"No Iruka-sensei, I can make it by myself, there no need to further interrupt your class." Naruto got to his feet and bowed to Iruka and Sasuke, "I'm sorry that I could not be a better opponent, Sasuke-san."_

_"Hn"_

_Sasuke watched Naruto walk off, completely weirded out by the new kid's actions. He was really strange! He narrowed his eyes in suspicion as he watched Naruto walking; the dobe appeared to be walking with an exaggerated limp, while still holding his head. It reminded him of what Shikamaru would do to get out of exercise and practice, when he would fake an injury…nah Naruto had shown his skills to Sasuke just now and he had been found wanting, no way was that kid gonna graduate!_

Iruka flipped over a few more pages, turning to his own report to the Hokage about how Naruto was being treated by the staff and students. It had come as no surprise when the Hokage had taken him aside and assigned him a mission to report back to him, Naruto was the container of the Kyubi no Kitsune and there was still a lot of misplaced hatred out there for him. Iruka felt guilty that it he still harbored resentment for Naruto, he knew the boy was innocent but that part of him still hated Naruto for what he carried and he hated that part of himself for doing so. Some of the other teachers were a bit more forthright with their dislike for the blond jinchuriki;

_Iruka helped himself to a cookie as he prepared to sit down, his other hand held a hot mug of tea. He looked around the teachers break room for somewhere to sit, making his way over to where Mizuki and some new teacher where chatting, pulling up a chair to join them._

_"Hey what's up?"_

_"Hey Iruka, me and Aiki here were talking about the new student, there's some crazy rumors running around the village about him!"_

_"You should know better than to listen to rumors Mizuki, Naruto doesn't need a hard time from the teachers, Kami knows the other students don't help."_

_"Come on Iruka don't be like that, I heard that before he got sent to the mental ward, he killed someone and ate their heart!" Aiki leant forward her face taking on spooky shadows causing both Iruka and Mizuki to shiver. _

_Mizuki laughed nervously, "ha, real funny Aiki… seriously though that boy is just plain strange, I'm not surprised the other students ignore him. I mean have you ever tried talking to him? He just sits there in that creepy getup…not right man."_

_"That's not fair Mizuki, you know that he's had a hard time in the past. Is it any surprise he's a quiet boy?"_

_"Quiet and creepy!" interrupted Aiki. "Come on, you can't actually be sticking up for him? That monster killed you parents for Kami's sake!"_

_Their table went quiet as did the entire break room at this loud remark, heads swiveled to look in their direction as conversation were hurriedly hushed out. Aiki looked around, regretting her outburst. _

_"Aiki-san I will say this only once to you and to everyone else here; Naruto Uzumaki is not the Kyubi, he is a young boy who has been treated terribly by the people who by his existence he protects. I would advise you to watch your words carefully in the future, and if I suspect any teacher at this academy is treating Naruto with any less respect than they would for any other student then I will inform the Hokage and recommend your dismissal from the staff!" Iruka said all this in a quiet voice to the stunned Aiki, before getting up and walking out of the silent room, furious at what his colleague had said. As he shut the door behind him, the room burst out into awkward conversation as the teachers tried to pretend that they hadn't been eavesdropping, while Aiki and Mizuki sat in silence._

Iruka had not been joking about reporting a fellow teacher to the Hokage, he had done it seven times in the past three years, catching several teachers either spreading malicious gossip about Naruto around the school or actively attempting to sabotage him at the academy. Only two of those teachers had been fired and that had been for tampering with Naruto's test results to make him fail his classes, the rest had been disciplined and put on probation were they were watched closely for any further misdeeds. Iruka had taken a bit of flak from the other teachers at selling out his colleagues in favor of the jinchuriki but others had supported him and the Hokage had been grateful for him watching over Naruto. It was always good to have the favor of the Hokage! To his disappointment, Naruto had remained his shy quiet (slightly creepy) self, and still remained at the bottom of the class despite his hard work, continually skating the edge of failure. Iruka had tried everything to get the boy to improve but he guessed that some people were just not cut out to be shinobi…he had tried telling the Hokage that Naruto wasn't suited for a life in Konoha's military but the old man had waved of his protests, telling him that Naruto would surprise him and that he had faith in the boy. The classes graduation test was only a couple of months away, Naruto still sat at the bottom of acceptable grades and even if he did by some miracle pass Iruka was worried that he would get himself and his team killed on the first dangerous mission he went on…

* * *

The village of Konoha was in high alert, shinobi rushed hither and there across the rooftops and through alleyways, the good citizens of the village where confined to their homes, wondering what was happening. The Hokage sat in his office, directing the efforts of the ninja's under his command, furious with both himself and his own staff, to think that the Forbidden Scroll of Forbidden Ninja Techiniques that wereForbidden had been stolen out of his office! Even worse, it had been stolen by a ninja of Konoha! To think that his day had started off so well with the news of Naruto's successful graduation, the boy coming in at the bottom of the graduates doing only slightly worse than Shikamaru, and now this. He hoped that the culprit would be caught soon, the scroll contained some of Konoha's most valuable secret techniques that could not be allowed to fall into enemy hands. His Anbu and jounin out searching had orders to retrieve the scroll at all costs and if it was impossible to capture the perpetrator then to exterminate them with extreme prejudice.

* * *

Naruto was a very happy ninja, the first part of his mission assigned to him by the Hokage had gone well, graduating from the academy while maintaining his dead last status. A successful mission was a reason to be glad but for him the real reason he was happy was the wet, hot, sticky blood dripping between his fingers. He was squatting on the forest floor in the outskirts of Konoha, his milky gray outfit blending in with the shadows the moon cast on the pine needle floor, a bloody carcass at his feet that he picked at messily, playing with bloodied bones and squashed organs. Naruto picked up an eyeball almost delicately with his elongated claw like fingernails, holding in front of him and giggling softly before popping it in his both to devour it was an expression of seraphic joy on his countenance.

His day had started off well; his graduation exam had been perfect, consistently getting scores of fifty ones in all his subjects. While to an observer it would look like he had managed to only scrape past by the skin of his teeth, it taken a lot of hard work to achieve such terrible grades. Someone aiming for the top only had to try as hard as they could, but for Naruto, aiming for the bottom while still keeping passing grades had taken a monumental effort of hard work. Thank fuck that was over with! Now free from the academy he only waited for the next phase of his mission to begin. To celebrate six months (felt more like three years!) of being constrained by his mission Naruto had taken this night off, to let loose his wild side and satiate the overwhelming bloodlust that had built up during his time at the academy. Heavens alone knew when he would next get the chance to revel in the thrill of a kill so for tonight he had slipped out of the village, his Anbu bodyguards had long ceased to watch him constantly, and allowed his highly trained side to take a back seat and let out his full viciousness to enjoy the hunt.

Now the spoils of his hunt lay before him, he had been lucky to find such nice prey to play with, a careful stalk through the underbrush, nostrils straining for any scent of his target, then a heart pounding chase his quarry fleeing panicked before him, then the kill… the sweet kill, the scent of fear strong in the air, the pulsing of blood through the veins as his hands closed around his target and then the kill….. And now the spoils of his victory lay before him, stripped bare of the feeble protection offered by skin and bones to reveal its frailties within. The rational par t of his mind was disgusted at the blood and carnage but the animal side rejoiced, he could almost feel the Kyubi within him howling in excitement.

Naruto finished licking the congealing blood from his fingers, when a sound caught his attention. Pausing in the consumption of the dead rabbit at his feet he cocked his head to one side and listened. _There! Someone was coming! No time to conceal the kill, best to flee. What if they were Anbu looking for him? Best to stay, hope for understanding than risk the Hokage thinking he had fled the village! Can't stay here, too exposed…. That tree there! Hide, wait, analyze, act, see who was coming then make his decision. _Naruto concealed himself carefully amongst the shadows of the tree, perching carefully on a branch overlooking the clearing. _Still coming, one person, quiet but in a hurry…who?_ A person burst into the clearing clutching a large scroll to their chest, breathing heavily. _Mizuki? Why….fleeing from the village? Yes, only explanation. _Naruto's feral side slipped away, as his ROOT training took over, here was something fishy going on and it was his job to investigate.

Mizuki paused in his flight, needing to catch his breath, the years in the academy had done terrible things to his physical fitness despite his regular exercise, it was just not the same as actual combat missions! Finally his time had come thought! With the Forbidden scroll, he would be welcomed back to his master with open arms, or with the powerful techniques he could learn from the scroll perhaps he could become a ninja to rival even Orochimaru! Pausing in his little delusions of power he looked around the clearing he had stopped in, his rusty instincts hesitantly firing up. A dead rabbit barely unrecognizable lay in a puddle of gore a few feet away from him, he wrinkled his nose in disgust, the poor animal looked like it had been put through a meat grinder, damn foxes!

He dove to the side in an awkward roll as a kunai landed in the dirt between his feet. Drawing his own kunai he looked around the clearing, worried that Konoha's Anbu had caught up with him. His tension drained as a familiar figure dropped down from the branches and began to walk towards him.

"Naruto!" Mizuki laughed, fate truly was shining on him tonight, "oh this is perfect! Not only do I get to steal the prized possession of Konoha but I get revenge on the bane of my existence all in the same night! Oh this will be sweet! I can kill the Kyubi jiinchuriki, hell Konoha might even forgive me for stealing the scroll if I bring back your dead body!" Mizuki never bothered to stop to worry why he was spouting exposition, it was a trait passed down by the Riduko Sennin to all ninja's that unfortunately came out stronger in some ninja's then others. Neither did he bother to wonder why Naruto instead of reacting at all to Mizuki's tirade continued his slow advance towards him.

Grinning, Mizuki palmed another kunai as he let the scroll drop, he wanted to enjoy this kill oh so very much. "You really are stupid to think that you have a chance to defeat me, I don't know what's more pathetic; that you Konoha's weapon are probably the most useless ninja to graduate from the academy or that the mighty Kyubi no Kitsune will die at the hands of a chunin! Muauaahahahahaaaa….ehemm."

Mizuki pounced on Naruto, kunai extended, hoping to slice the boys neck. He felt exultant as his body pushed Naruto to the floor and felt his blades meet the resistance of his neck, but then his joy turned to confusion as Naruto vanished in a puff of smoke and he fell heavily to the ground. "Waaah?" was all he managed to get out before letting out a hiss of agony as he felt a searing pain in both his ankles and felt his feet go limp.

In agony Mizuki pushed himself up on his hands, looking around as fear suddenly washed over him in an icy wave. _How did that just happen, had the Anbu caught up with him already?_ He stared in shock as Naruto stepped round from behind him, a bloody long bladed kunai in his hands. "Why you little..!" Another flash of agony and now he couldn't move his arms as pain surged through his body. He lay on his face, breathing in the smell of blood and his own urine from where he had wet himself before getting turned over onto his back where he lay helpless. "How….who are you?" he stuttered, staring into the red eyes that glowed from the darkness within Naruto's hood.

"Me? I wouldn't worry about me Mizuki-kun, tonight's going to be all about you. You see I have to thank you for giving me such a precious toy to play with!" Mizuki's blood ran cold at the blood thirsty voice of his attacker, whimpering in fear and pain as the hooded ninja crouched down and reached out with bloody claws.

Half an hour later a squad of Anbu arrived in the clearing, drawn by the stench of blood and screams that had echoed through the woods. Their weapons were drawn as they advanced on the two figures at the center of the clearing; another squad watched the movements from the trees while another one secured the perimeter. In the center Naruto sat patiently, his hands clasped over his head, to the Anbu who approached him, they were disgusted by what they saw despite their years of bloody work; the boys arms from the elbows down were coated in gore that had congealed on his clothes. Next to him the mangled parts of an unrecognizable bloody body lay there in a pool of blood. The Anbu circled around them, wary of any traps, they almost jumped when Naruto spoke up. "Anbu-san" he spoke to Tiger masked ninja in front of him, "I have apprehended the traitor Mizuki and secured the Forbidden scroll, I believe you should take me to the Hokage so that I may report to him directly." Naruto indicated the scroll that sat a little bit to the side, untouched by the bloody carnage around him. The Anbu were surprised but not completely shocked, they knew of Naruto's classified background and were mostly glad that it wasn't the Kyubi breaking loose that had caused Mizuki to be butchered in such a horrific fashion.

One Anbu stepped forward, stifling the urge to vomit as he surveyed the blood and splintered bones of what had previously been Mizuki. "…..aauh…..uuueg…" the horrific gurgling came from Mizuki lips accompanied by fresh bubbles of blood. "FUCKING HELL!" one Anbu screamed, leaping away from the somehow still alive body, the rest took several steps back in horror while another vomited into his mask. "Oh, you should also ensure that Mizuki is taken to a medical facility immediately, I may have gone overboard with his interrogation." Naruto still hadn't moved from his spot, and Tiger would later swear that his eyes had glowed red beneath his hood.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed that chapter and again sorry for the delay :( The chapter was a bit tricky to write cos I was trying to show a couple of different sides to Naruto and introduce some other characters, I do really like the end scene between Naruto and Mizuki, parts of Naruto have some very violent tendencies which scared me a little bit while writing! Next chapter we shall see the formation of teams (Ooooh what will I do there? Will it be a new team or the old team?) and the real genin test which will NOT be the bell test (seriously, you guys? seriously...) but something new and hopefully exciting! I am itching to get to some action but scared that my writing will not do it justice...oh well stick with it and surely it will improve! **

**Okay, in reply to naruhana (who did write a lovely review :D): there will be a pairing with Naruto but it will be much much much much much much much later in the story, he's not the sort for a teen romance sort of thing you know? Haven't decided who it will be but it will definitely not be Hinata/Sakura/Tenten/Kiba/Hana/Yugito/Tsunade/Hanabi(euuwww), I'm probably going to try to expand the character of a minor character/one who doesn't get much screen time to make them more interesting and suitable for Naruto...maybe Sasuke?(JOKE ALERT! JOKE ALERT! THIS WAS AN ERRONEOUS STATEMENT! DISREGARD!) so yeah...**

**Onwards my fellow fanfictors to the next chapter of the Hobbit...I mean Naruto: Raised in the Shadows (seriously come out already next bit!). Hopefully this next one will not be so delayed...**

**Read, Enjoy and if you feel like it, I mean you totally don't have to, but if you want to then yeah go ahead and review...if thats okay...**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey, welcome back to the story! Holidays are over so I shall crack the whip on the story speed! Ya boy!**

**Thanks to lordamnesia, jh831, StreakingHerculobus, wildedge, Basium1 and naruhana for their lovely reviews! By thanks to you!**

**I do not own Naruto that distinction belongs to the unspeakable evil.**

**So please enjoy the chapter and if you like it then let me know!**

* * *

Naruto sat quietly at the back of the classroom, an act he had perfected during his six months at the Leaf's shinobi academy. Last night's events had been relegated to a dark corner of his mind and left to rot, for it did no good to dwell on the past when it didn't affect the present. Instead of daydreaming about the pulsating organs of the still breathing Mizuki laid bare to him, Naruto focused on his classmates. He had a good idea of who his teammates would be, after all he had remained at the bottom of the class just for that reason, no what worried him was who his sensei would be. True he had a very solid suspicion about who it would be, but you never could be certain, although to assign anyone else would throw some serious confusion on his mission objectives. _Bah! Stupid kids! Laughing and carrying one, you would have thought they had just won a war not passed some simple test…idiots, they had no idea what it took to be a real ninja…we should kill them all right now, shed their blood! NO! Must never assault Konoha! Get it together._ Soon his team would be confirmed and then they would know who their sensei would be….

Sarutobi sat in his chair; leaning back to allow the assembled jounin sensei's to watch the crystal ball on his desk that was currently displaying a view of an academy classroom filled with eager students. In his office were assembled the respective jounin sensei's for the year, conspicuously present was Kakashi Hatake who had for once turned up on time and was to his irritation receiving odd looks as those present questioned whether or not this was the real Kakashi…

"Hmm, hmm..." the Hokage interrupted his jounin's idle chatter as Iruka came into the crystal ball as he entered the classroom. The jounin's in the Hokage's office quickly silenced themselves and craned eagerly to see the reaction on their students faces when the teams were announced, remembering their times at the academy when they had eagerly awaited to see what their future would be.

"Congratulations on everyone passing the exam, I'm sure you are all eager to find out your teammates and join the proud tradition of service of Leaf Shinobi!" Iruka beamed at his class, happy that so many students had graduated. His good mood was offset somewhat by the news that his colleague Mizuki was a traitor and had been detained indefinitely by the Anbu. Still you did not become a chunin without learning how to cope with betrayal. And today especially was a good day to be happy on, these new genins deserved to be congratulated on their success, it was of special comfort to Iruka that Naruto had passed as well, despite his low scores all year, he had managed to scrape through the final exam. He hoped that the poor boy would be able to learn a lot from his new sensei and grow into a better ninja.

As Iruka started his speech about the privilege and honor of serving the Leaf as a shinobi, Naruto tuned out, barely listening, to intent on watching his classmate's reactions. For the most part it was one of eager excitement while only a few appeared unhappy with the prospect of serving at the front lines of the village such as Shikamaru who still dozed sleepily at the back. Several fangirls were busy swooning over the broody Uchia while Kiba was bouncing up and down in his seat from excitement. Truly this mission of his was going to be a trying one!

"blaaa blaah blah Kiba, Hinata, Shino, blah blaah Kurenai blah blaaah blaaah, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, blaaaaah blaah Asuma, blah blah blah blah, Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto will from Team Ten and will be taught by their jounin sensei; Kakashi Hatake. Good luck you all and may you do Konoha proud! Your respective sensei's will come to pick you up in your teams shortly, until then please wait here." Naruto only picked up the last part of Iruka's speech, confirming his suspicions on what the teams would be, it was obvious really, the logical choice. He then settled into what he knew would be a long wait for his sensei, ignoring the cries of victory from Sakura as she rubbed her placement in a devastated Ino's face.

The teams selected were rather obvious really, while the choice of Kakashi as his team's sensei was again a logical decision, Naruto's only worry was whether or not the Hokage had informed Kakashi of his true purpose in the team or his pre-academy background. The meeting he had had with the Hokage last night hadn't addressed the issue, perhaps the Hokage had been too distracted by the betrayal of Mizuki to go into any details. The simple debrief of his actions in the forest had been all that was necessary, and although the Hokage had looked disgusted at several points in Naruto's story, the only criticism he had to offer was on the overly brutal torture of Mizuki, and even then that had been mitigated by the fact that when Ibiki had questioned him, Mizuki had been ecstatic to spill his guts if it meant that he would escape Naruto's own questioning techniques. On the whole Naruto was quite happy with his little adventure last night, Mizuki had been a nice stress release for him and he reckoned that the next few months with his 'fellow genins' in his team would be a cause for much more stress!

The jounin's in the Hokage's office watched the reactions of their future students with amusement, while the Hokage kept his eye on the hooded figure at the back of the classroom who had yet to move. Last night had been particularly worrying for him, not just because of Mizuki's attempted defection but also Naruto's barbaric treatment of him. According to Ibiki, when Mizuki had been brought in for medical treatment, the on call doctor had described the damage as "if someone had attempted open heart surgery with an axe." The full medical report was equally disturbing, from the looks of it Mizuki would never walk again as the bones in his legs had apparently not only been reduced to fine splinters but Naruto had also plucked the splintered bones shards from where they poked out of the bloodied flesh and proceeded to scatter them around the clearing! While Naruto had assured him last night that Mizuki had been a onetime loss of control and that it would certainly not happen again, Sarutobi was still worried about what would happen should Naruto's new teammates be around for another 'loss of control'. It was all highly disturbing and made him regret somewhat his plan to place Naruto within Kakashi's genin team, he half hoped that Kakashi would fail them but he knew that they would pass. It was almost certain and unless Naruto did something drastic then he would have to accept the fact that he would have a potential monster running around the youngsters of the village. There was nothing to be done now, Naruto deserved more than anyone a chance at a normal life (for a shinobi) and this was his opportunity not just for Naruto but also for him to try to make amends for not taking better care of Naruto when he was young.

The jounin's in the Hokage'office began to file out one by one, now that team allocations were over they were going to meet their future students. Sarutobi motioned at Kakashi to stay behind, waiting until the rest of the jounin's had left to wave Kakashi to sit down. "I'm afraid we had a certain unfortunate situation last night with Naruto Kakashi, it would also appear that you have been continuing to look into Naruto's history…" Sarutobi held up his hand to forestall Kakashi's attempt to explain before continuing. "I have concealed Naruto's past for both the good of the village and his own security, now that your confirmed as his jounin sensei I can reveal to you more details of his past but again you must accept that there are many things that I still cannot reveal and that this all will be an S rank secret. I am only revealing this to you so that you can teach your team effectively do you understand?"

"Yes Hokage-sama, thank you for this…I have heard several disturbing things from my Anbu friends about last night…"

"Ah, so there are rumors already about that…damn, I had hoped to contain that information…the last thing I want is for Naruto's teammates to be poisned against him!"

"I'm sorry Hokage, but I wouldn't worry too much about that, I only overheard two Anbu talking in their lounge while I was waiting for a friend… when I tried to find out more, they clammed up…"

"That is good to know Kakashi thank you, hopefully Naruto's peers will be compassionate to him when he decides to open up, if he opens up…Ach, enough of that sort of talk, you've got your students eagerly awaiting so I'll try to make this brief; here what I can tell you of Naruto Uzumaki…."

* * *

Where is he? Sasuke was getting more and more annoyed by the second, he had already been waiting for over two hours for his new sensei to arrive and if it wasn't bad enough to sit in the dreary academy classroom for hours on end, he was beset by his most hated nemesis, not his murdering brother Itachi but that most awful of enemies; the fangirl! Sakura was currently sitting behind him cooing and giggling to herself while undressing him with her eyes, something she had been doing for the last two hours! His other stupid 'teammate' was no help either, not providing any distraction for him to take advantage of. _Look at that dumb bastard just sitting there, thinks he's so cool in his dumb getup…just my luck; a ravenous fangirl and the dead last, Kami could my team be any worse! _Sasuke's thoughts were not happy ones as he wished for any other team than the one he had, even Kiba would have been a better teammate than either of his current ones!

Where is he? Sakura's thoughts were on her idol, wondering what was running through the perfect head of his, what was he thinking about? _Me? Hehehe…Take that Ino-pig! Sasuke and me for life!_ She was ecstatic that she was on the same team as her beloved Sasuke, busy dreaming of a romantic future between the two of them. Sakura was only a little bit worried about the lateness of their instructor, for her the time was flying just by being in the same room as her crush, despite Sasuke's continuing indifference to her presence and efforts to talk to him she was hopeful that now they were on the same team he would be unable to avoid her! Shame about their other teammate really, Naruto had never fitted into their class, coming into it so late in the year as he did; he was a silent weirdo! The rumor running around class a the end of the year was that the only people he had ever talked to were teachers and no one could think of one example where he had talked to one of his peers voluntarily. _Well what could you expect from a mental case! At least he won't be getting in the way of me and Sasuke-kun! Squeeeeee!_ Sakura did feel sorry for Naruto, being a kind hearted girl but after her first couple of tries at befriending him only to be ignored, she had taken her mother's advice and kept out of his way. She really hoped he wouldn't hold her and Sasuke back, which would totally suck!

Naruto's thoughts were calm; deliberately meditating to sooth his mind and lock away his violent impulses. After his bit of fun with Mizuki last night, his blood lust was up more than he had anticipated and now he was going through several ROOT mind relaxing exercise's to push his thoughts of gutting his teammates to one side and prepare for meeting his new sensei. Naruto had always enjoyed learning new techniques when he was in ROOT and although he doubted he would be learning anything new under his new teacher he was none the less eager to meet the legendary Kakashi Hatake! It would also be nice to not have to conceal so much behind his emotionless mask, during his talk with the Hokage last night, he had been told that Kakashi would have a basic outline of his skills and background… it would be nice not to force himself to hold back when they went on missions while trying to conceal his skills, not to mention not having to worry so much about having to assassinate his sensei if Kakashi had tried digging into Naruto's path unauthorized. _Hmm?_

"Yo!" a spiky silver haired head poked through the classroom door, Sakura letting out a quiet "eeep!" as she was caught off guard. Sasuke looked moodily at his late teacher while Naruto remained as still as a statue, having felt Kakashi's arrival in the building.

"Hmmm, my first impression of you guys is…" Kakashi swept his one eye around the classroom to take in his students "you might do!" he eye smiled at the speechless Sakura and glowering Sasuke while trying to take a peek underneath Naruto's hood. This was the closest he had been to the boy since he had returned to Konoha but damn was that getup odd!

"Right you lot, meet me on the roof in five so we can all introduce ourselves!" and with a poof of smoke he vanished. Sasuke grunted and ambled casually out of the classroom followed by a bouncy Sakura, Naruto remained seated, until he could hear them on the stair well before following. They might be his teammates and it was his duty as a ninja of Konoha to look out for them, it did not mean he would have to be friendly! He wasn't really sure what this 'friend' stuff was anyway… he was pretty sure you couldn't use it to fillet a rock nin in the field so what use did it have? Idiotic children! They all needed to grow up!

"Well, everyone let's begin with introducing ourselves? Likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future, that sort of stuff… pinky your up first!"

"Umm okay, My name is Sakura Hanuro and I like…hehehe…um my family? And a certain special person…hehe…" Kakashi sighed and Sasuke looked away while Naruto continued doing nothing. "Er..dislikes okay, I guess I hate Ino-pig! And people who insult my appearance….hobbies, I like cooking and shopping for new clothes and um…dreams for the future…hehehehe…"Sakura blushed red and refused to continue, visualizing her future wedding.

"Well that was….interesting, okay next one; broody your turn!" Sasuke looked at Naruto and back at Kakashi, "Yeah you the unhooded broody one."

"Hn, my likes are training and learning new techniques, my dislikes are none of your business and my dreams for the future are to restore my clan and…to kill a certain man….." Sasuke devolved into another round of intense brooding after this brief statement causing severe swoonage on Sakura's part.

_Ai, ai, ai…all this revenge, poor kid's still damaged from his brother…_"Okay thank you Sasuke for that. Mystery boy, or you could be a girl under all those clothes! You're up next, come on don't be shy!"

Naruto lifted his head, face invisible in the shadows of his hood and spoke in a quiet monosyllabic voice, his teammates despite their own internal interests found themselves listening eagerly to the strange boy. They had heard so little out of him during their time at the academy that any word he spoke was of great interest to them in untangling the mystery that was Naruto Uzumake. For Kakashi this was the first time he had heard Naruto speak and he was shocked by how emotionless the boy appeared.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I like Konoha and dislike the enemies of Konoha. I have no hobbies and my dream is for my death to be of use to Konoha."

Sasuke and Sakura shivered at such a depressing statement, thoroughly freaked out by their teammate. Kakashi felt a cold chill sweep through is body that he concealed, he had heard that tone of voice before on shinobi who had become empty inside, nothing left for them but their duty…_What has happened to you Naruto?_ Even the Hokage's brief summation of what Naruto had gone through hadn't prepared him to deal with this.

"Well…now that we all er… know each other, I guess I should tell you all about the genin test?"

"Test? What test? We just passed our exam? Don't tell me we've got more homework?!" Sakura spoke up anxiously.

"Homework? Hehehe…no nothing like that, you see that exam was only to see who could be genin's, not who would be genins!" Kami, but Kakashi did enjoy seeing the looks of surprise and shock on his teams face, well apart from Naruto's. "You see, it is up to the jounin in charge of each team to set an exam for their own students to see whether they will become genin or be sent back to the academy..heehehee…"

"What's so funny?" Sasuke asked, pissed off at the apparent joke of an instructor he had gotten.

"Hahahaa….it's just that my test has a hundred percent failure rate! No one's ever passed!"

Both Sakura's and Sasuke's jaws dropped in surprise and outraged horror as they contemplated going back to the academy for another year.

"Now normally, your instructor would let you have a nights rest before the test but seeing as how you're such an exceptional team I'm going to make an exception…." Sasuke and Sakura leant forward eagerly to hear what Kakashi had to say, ignoring the sarcasm in his voice.

"Since you're all so special our test will start…hmmm, right now! Meet me in training ground seven in fifteen minutes or you all fail!" with that Kakashi vanished in the trademark puff of smoke of a shunshin leaving just the faintest hints of giggles in the air.

Sasuke and Sakura gaped for a few seconds at this announcement before leaping into action. As they went to dash of the rooftop Sakura reached out and grabbed Naruto's arm intending to drag him along with them, afraid that he would be late and screw up their chances of passing.

Instead she found herself yanked to a halt and dumped on her back side as Naruto refused to move an inch.

"What the hell freak! Get your lazy ass in gear! Don't make me and Sasuke fail because of you!"  
Sasuke had paused by the stairwell to watch what happened; Sakura's actions had also aroused his worry for their other teammate's ability to reach the training ground in time.

"I don't like to be touched…please remove your hand." Said Naruto in an icy voice, rising to his feet. "Your failure will not be because of me."

As Sakura just stared at Naruto in shock, Sasuke decided to speak up. "Hn, whatever you say dobe, but you better follow us now if you don't want to fail!" He found himself looking away as Naruto's hood swiveled away from Sakura to face him for several seconds before Naruto shrugged and walked over to where Sasuke stood.  
Together the three of them began a swift run through the village to their assigned training ground, eager to complete whatever test their sensei set them and prove themselves as Shinobi of the Leaf!

* * *

"Alright my cute little genin…" Kakashi smiled at his students who for the most part stood panting before him. "Well done on getting here so quickly….hmm I was only joking about the failing if you weren't here in fifteen minutes part!" Kakashi eye smiled again as Sasuke and Sakura sweatdropped, he was a little disappointed that Naruto didn't react but then considering his history it was hardly that surprising.

"Okay guys, your test will be quite the complicated one so pay close attention to what I say; each of you will have one of these envelopes," Kakashi passed out three sealed black envelopes to each of the genin, who looked at them curiously, "now you mustn't open them or you fail! I am also carrying several of the envelopes." He indicated a pouch at his hip and then with a single seal made two clones to stand next to him, he handed out a couple of envelopes from his pouch to the clones before continuing to speak to his puzzled genin.

"Now these clones will go and hide as well," at which point the clones bounded off into the tree line. "Your task will be to track down these envelopes and get them using whatever tools at your disposal; I will be participating so you must be prepared to kill in your attacks. " he held up a hand to silence Sakura as she opened her mouth to protest.

"Now in order to pass each of you must show me that you have got a minimum of three envelopes when the test finishes in five hours. We will meet back here and you will each be given the opportunity to show me the envelopes you managed to get. Oh and if you don't pass you will be sent back to the academy!" Kakashi stifled a laugh at the look on his student's faces; it was hilarious watching the innocent genins try to pass his test. Of course this time they would have to try very hard not to pass but perhaps it would be fun to have a genin team to torment.

"You got it? Any questions? Good then let's start!"

Sakura stood there gaping for a second, overwhelmed by the mass of information dumped on her by their seemingly insane sensei, looking around she caught a brief glimpse of Sasuke before he disappeared from view into the trees, having bolted as soon as Kakashi had said start. She cast a glance back at her sensei who smiled at her absentmindedly while reaching into his pouch.

_A weapon! Quick gotta get out of here and find Sasuke-kun.._

With that Sakura fled, following Sasuke's path into the trees, while Kakashi giggled to himself as he brought out his favorite book from his pocket and began to read.

_Hmm, I wonder how they're going to do this, I hope they're not too hopeless…it would be better to have a competent genin team than a useless one. Then again I suppose Naruto's already competent enough, he's probably worked it out already…speaking of which where is he?_

Kakashi reached out with his senses, it was weird; he hadn't seen Naruto leave the clearing, one minute he had been here listening and the next he was gone…how interesting. _Ah there he is!_ He could feel the strong steady pulse of chakra coming from Naruto, it felt muted, he supposed that Naruto was trying to suppress it but because of his large chakra reserves he was still easily detectable. Sasuka was away to the right with Sakura following him; it looked as though they were trying to track down one of his clones…good for them. Still they wouldn't have much luck and he could get back to his reading…_oh Mizu, you're a bad little waitress aren't you…hehehe…_

Sasuke made his way stealthily through the underbrush, trying hard to ignore Sakura who was trying her best to follow but none the less was still creating a large amount of noise for a supposed ninja. Sasuke cursed under his breath as she caught up.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura whispered in his ear, "Let's team up Sasuke-kun, I'm sure I can help you…pleeeease?"

"Hn!" Sasuke's reply was short and sweet as usual but Sakura didn't give up so easily as she crept forward next to him, determined to prove her worth.

"Aren't you two a cute couple!"

"Arrrgh!"

Both genins looked up in surprise at the dangling visage of their sensei as he smiled at them from the underside of the branch overhead.

Sasuke leapt upwards without a moment's hesitation, a kunai flying from his outstretched hands on a deadly collision course with Kakashi's face.

"WHUMP!" Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke into which Sasuke flew.

"Hn!" Down came Sasuke in a crumpled heap, his jump through the smoke had caused him to collide with the log Kakashi had used for his quick kawarmi. Sakura hurried over to his side, concern radiating of her as he got unsteadily back to his feet, clutching his now bleeding nose.

"Oh Sasuke are you okay? That was a terribly mean trick sensei pulled; he could have really hurt you!"

Sasuke glared at her angrily and looked around for Kakashi, eager to get his own back, _what an amateur mistake! Getting injured on a stupid log! _He directed a vicious kick at said log which rolled away into the bushes.

"Do you want any help, I've got some medicine in the bag that might stop the bleeding?" she said reaching for a pouch on her waist.

"Hgnnh..yeth…" Sasuke's voice was distorted from where he clutched his nose to stem the bleeding.

"Your voice sounds really silly Sasuke-kun!" came a playful voice from the treetops followed by a childish giggle as a misty hood poked out of a clump of leaves above them.

"Naruto! Don't make fun of Sasuke! Why didn't you do anything to help him instead of helping him?"

"Awww…would the poor wittle Sasuke-kun like me to take care of the big bad sensei man?" more of Naruto's body emerged from the leaves as he lowered himself down onto a thicker branch, unhooking his ankles from where they had been hooked over the branch above him, allowing him a great upside down view of the entire fiasco.

"Thut ub!" Sasuke chose to ignore his teammate's sudden change in behavior, too humiliated by his sudden defeat at the hands of a log to think about anything other than his sweet revenge he would wreak on his sensei!

While Sakura was surprised by Naruto's sudden one eighty personality change from a silent shadow to a laughing jokester, she was too amused by the sight of Sasuke glaring at the hooded head that peered down at him and couldn't help but let out a teeny giggle at Sasuke's voice.

"Thut ub! Thut up!" was Sasuke's angry response, only making her laugh out loud while Naruto almost fell from his perch in the tree, so intense was his laughter. Sasuke stormed of, running away, desperate to get away from is idiotic teammates and find his stupid sensei so he could pass this dumb test!

His wild run took him out of the woods and into the bushes at the edge of the clearing where he had started. He skidded to a halt and quickly hid himself; it looked like Kakashi hadn't seen him yet! The bastard was just standing there reading some shitty book! This was good, he would have a chance to prove his skills, and no stupid logs would get in his way this time!

* * *

Sakure mangaged to get her breath back, having laughed herself silly watching Sasuke storm angrily off. She felt somewhat bad at laughing at him but it had just been sooo funny! _Poor Sasuke-kun I will make it up to you for laughing at you…_

She looked curiously at Naruto who was had fallen from his perch in the tree and was still rolling on the forest floor laughing. This suddenly jovial boy was nothing like the Naruto that everyone had known and been creeped out by at the academy. For a moment she panicked, what if this Naruto was just Kakashi-sensei in a henge come to test her? Had she failed by laughing at her teammate?

Her worries were pushed to the back of her mind as Naruto seemed to get a grip on himself and quickly ceased his almost manic laughter, standing up, brushing leaves of his ash colored outfit.

"Um…are you alright?" Sakura asked, she didn't know what to expect from him. He had never spoken to her in the academy so she hardly knew what to expect from the sudden shift in personality he appeared to be experiencing.

"I apologize for the laughter…if you will excuse me." Naruto's voice resumed its monosyllabic tone, losing all trace of joviality that had been there a moment ago when he had cackled like a small child at Sasuke's discomfort. Turning away from Sakura who stood there unsure of what to make of him, he darted of into the bushes in the same direction as Sasuke.

Sakura stood there mouth open in surprise and confusion. Naruto was a really weird person! One moment he had seemed normal, laughing like..like..well her! The next he had seemingly shutdown completely, resuming his isolated and odd demeanor that he had shown throughout his time in the academy. _  
Naruto was really an odd boy!_ She put her musing about Naruto's behavior out of her mind and rushed to follow after him, determined to pass the test their sensei had set them. After all it would be no good if she failed and Sasuke-kun passed, then she would lose any chance to be with him!

* * *

As Naruto made his way through the trees, stealthily leaping from one branch to another in his pursuit of Sasuke he reprimanded himself mentally for his lapse in discipline. _Why did I laugh? Why did I insult Sasuke? It had no purpose, it was pointless! And that stupid laughter, I crippled my defenses by laughing! Damn it!_ He had been unable to stop himself; his useless emotions had bubbled over and overwhelmed him. He had thought that his indulgence with Mizuki would have suppressed them for longer, he had done so well in the academy and now it was getting harder and harder to stop himself! _Why was this happening! The stupid academy brats with their pathetic 'skills', so proud of their meager efforts…they had no idea what the real world was like! Spoilt brats! Babied by their parents who fussed over them for the simplest things!_ _They don't deserve their peace…they will ALL DIE! NO! Damn it…not now…keep it together…push it back…calm…relax…_

Naruto breathed deeply, in and out, in and out… the tree's smooth bark was cool on his head helping him focus. Releasing a great shuddering breath he released his grip on the trunk of the tree he had unconsciously stopped on. He looked surprised at the vicious gouges in the wood and stared at his hands where razor sharp nails were receding back into his fingers as his control over himself returned. _This was not good…why was this happening? There's been nothing like this since I returned to Konoha…maybe I should…no the Hokage doesn't need to know…_ He heard a rustling below him and flattened himself against the branch, the strange ash pattern on his clothes blending in with the bark. Naruto watched as Sakura stumbled through the thick undergrowth below, oblivious to his presence above her. _She caught up…no more time to waste, remember the mission._ With that Naruto silent as a shadow disappeared amongst the treetops heading the same direction as the bumbling kunoichi below him.

* * *

Kakashi, the real Kakashi stood in the clearing, pretty much exactly where he had been standing when they had started. He was honestly quite disappointed with his genins, he had expected them to at least have dispelled one of his clones by now or made some sort of attack on him. He sniggered quietly to himself as he felt Sasuke moving about the outskirts of the clearing, the boy's stealth was really quite good for a genin but he was making no attempt to mask his chakra signature so all his attempts to be stealthy were rendered pointless. He wondered what Sasuke was doing, he had been working his way around the clearing for the past half hour, traps probably…interesting but not good enough. _Ah. Here come the rest, let's see if they can actually do anything…_ He had spotted Sakura's arrival when a flash of pink appeared in the bushes at the edge of his field of vision before it had retreated into cover, he felt like sighing at the rather pitiful attempt at stealth she was making. Naruto was far more interesting, he had felt his chakra signature getting closer but that had been the only sign the boy was here, his stealth was truly impressive. _Only to be expected I suppose, but now this was interesting…_ Naruto's chakra signature was distorted; he couldn't pinpoint the boy's location! _Hmm…how ingenious, he knows he can't hide his chakra from me so he's saturated the area with it…very clever._

He coughed loudly and put away his book away with a sigh, with Naruto here it was probably best..no point risking his precious getting damaged!

"Well it's about time you guys finally did something, I was considering failing you all right now for your poor performance so far!" Kakashi announced to the clearing, catching a muffled gasp and grinning beneath his mask.

His words had their desired effect as he casually leant to one side to dodge a hail of kunai. He frowned to himself as the behind him a trap was released by the kunai he had dodged, sending another hail of sharp pointy things at what would have been his blind spot. He leapt into the air only to be forced to dodge with a quick kawarmi to avoid a ferocious fireball that bore down on him as he took to the air. _Well, that's quite impressive forethought, good tactical planning for a genin. That's one but where are the others?_ Rather than stay around to mess with Sasuke who had leapt into the clearing to let loose his fireball jutsu, Kakashi hid himself in the trees in order to go hunting for the remaining genin.

Sasuke glared in anger at the burnt remains of the log that had allowed Kakashi to escape his jutsu, he was angry at himself for being coaded into attacking, he was angry at his stupid teammates who did nothing but laugh at him and get in his way, he was angry at his sensei for not facing him seriously but most of all he was angry at the stupid bloody log that kept allowing Kakashi to escape his attacks! He whipped his head up as he heard a scream and hurried to get hidden once again, he would not let Kakashi catch him of guard again!

Kakashi sighed in disappointment at Sakura who lay unconscious at his feet; he had expected much better than this...these guys were terrible! Sasuke was attacking by himself, not caring one whit for his teammates while Sakurawas just….what a shame…As for Naruto, he was feeling somewhat irritated at the ex-ROOT boy. He had initially tried finding him, but the boy had proven impossible to catch! Oh he had been able to track his chakra to a small area but once there it was almost impossible to find him. He had resorted to using his chakra enhanced sense of smell to track him and although he had been able to discern a faint scent it had led nowhere! He'd be damned if he used his nin-dogs to track down one of his own students! Impressive as Naruto was at hiding, he had so far done nothing to help out his team, _I would of thought that he at least would have been able to grasp the exercise but I guess they don't teach teamwork in ROOT…it really looks as though this team will fail if they don't buck up their act!_

* * *

Several hours later Kakashi stood reading in the clearing, half-watching the three genin who were approaching him, wondering what they were planning on doing. They had tried several times to attack him or his clones, but had failed quite spectacularly; even Naruto had made a rather half-hearted attempt to attack him. He was very disappointed with his team...he put away the book and turned to pay attention as Sasuke stepped forward from the group and cleared his throat to speak to him.

"Well, you've failed to get any of the envelopes from me or my clones and you've reached the deadline so what have you got to say for yourself?"

Sasuke met his sensei's gaze rather sullenly and from behind his back brought forth his hand clutching three envelopes. Kakashi narrowed his eyes and looked over to Naruto and Sakura who were standing just behind Sasuke, Sakura looked worried while Naruto was as inscrutable as ever. _What is going on here?_

:"So…you have your three envelopes," Kakashi scrutinized them closely; checking to see if they were chakra constructs, _no, their real._ "Well Sasuke, if that's all then I guess you pass, while your teammates…"

"Wait!" Sasuke stopped him, and stepped back. He carefully and deliberately handed the envelopes over to Sakura who took them and stepped forward and waved them in Kakashi's surprised face. This he had not been expecting! Sakura then stepped back and handed the envelopes over to Naruto who took them and waved them casually in the air.

"Explain? You only have three envelopes." Kakashi glared at them in carefully constructed anger, secretly eager to see what they had cooked up. The test was supposed to make them work against each other, tempting them to steal the others envelopes or to work together in an attempt to steal the envelopes from him. This was a new approach, and he was quite pleased by it!

Sakura stepped up, wilting away from Kakashi's gaze. "Um…I..I mean…We, decided that…you said that we only had to show the envelopes not give them to you so as long as we each showed that we had three envelopes then we could pass because what you said and you can't fail us now and I'm sorry if it was wrong but please don't fail Sasuke-kun as it's all my fault and I'm sorry!" Sakura's words tumbled out in a hurried rush and she gasped for breath when she had finished, refusing to meet Kakashi's eyes.

Behind her, Sasuke shuffled his feet nervously while Naruto did his usual impression of a statue. Kakashi took in a deep breath and focused the full force of his stare on the genin.

"That…"Kakashi raised his voice causing the genin to slump miserably, "was the most underhanded and sneaky approach to this test I have ever seen! And I couldn't be happier! Congratulations you guys pass!"

Sakura collapsed in relief, Sasuke smirked knowingly, the only sign of pleasure he would allow to show while Naruto let out a sudden loud "WaHey!" that startled everyone presence causing them to stare at Naruto in surprise while he stared down at the ground in embarrassment at the display of emotion. Kakashi simply smiled beneath his mask as he happily surveyed his new team.

* * *

**Well I hoped you enjoyed that, it was a biaaatch to write! Hopefully my action scenes will get better as I improve so stay tuned!**

**Reviews:**

**lordamnesia: thanks, im glad you like how fracked it is, it will remain so!**

**jh831: glad you like it, the d rank missions will be fun...hehe**

**StreakingHerculobus: glad you liked the mind part it was very fun to write :D**

**widledge: thanks for the review, yeah the academy was a good part to write, i'm a bit annoyed by the fics that put up naruto as the super dooper ulitmate ninja master of badassery who rags on others for being immature while showing off and shit in the academy himself! gaaah!**

**Basium1: thank you :P it is purty!**

**naruhana: thanks for the suggestion of ino, i wouldnt have thought of that but i can see it working quite nicely! my mind is scheming of ways for it to work mwahahahaaa! no older women though, and haku i have plans for...evil plans...**

**So everyone thank you for reading, hope you liked it and if you have any comments or suggestions please leave a comment :)**

**Tune in next time for more TALES OF INTEREST!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay, new chapter! Trying out new format/style so hope you like it...seems better to me!**

**Thanks to imsabbel and dracomancer6491 for reviewing, your comments are as always greatly appreciated.**

**I do not own Naruto..boohoo boohoo...it belongs to Kishimoto :( Onwards to story!**

* * *

Noriko opened the front door, catching the visitor in the midst of their second knock.

"Hello Naruto, you're a little early aren't you? Did you do well on your missions?"

The hooded boy on her doorstep remained silent, an act that Noriko now saw through, one that usually masked his irritation at something or another. Stepping aside she motioned at Naruto to come inside.

"Come in then, and we can get started." She led him down the hallway to her private study, "can I get you anything to drink? Tea, water? Or perhaps something to nibble?" She asked the questions out of habit, not once since Naruto had begun seeing her had he accepted her offer of refreshments. Even now after many sessions together, he had yet to open up fully and relax in her company. She worried about him, not just from a professional standpoint but from a personal one as well, it had upset her greatly to see what had happened to him under the tutelage of ROOT, no child should have to go through anything like that. And she was ashamed to admit she worried about his mental state for the sake of her own daughter, who would be serving alongside him eventually. If Naruto turned psychotic then it would be his teammates and those around him that would most likely play the price, and she had no intention of allowing that to happen.

Entering her study, she set about fishing out Naruto's file from one of the numerous filing cabinets that filled her room. It wasn't a particularly big file, at the end of each week, Anbu collected all files from her records to store them in the more secure Hokage's archives. It wouldn't do for an enemy ninja to get their hands on the psychiatric files of Konoha's own forces! All she was allowed to keep was a brief personal information sheet of each patient and if she wished to review her own notes then Noriko was forced to go to the archives for her own information. Thankfully as a Yamanaka her own memory was prodigious and in special cases such as Naruto's, she made sure to memorize all the pertinent information on her patient. Noriko recalled her first session with Naruto, it had been at the hospital, she hadn't known what to think of her strange patient after her brief glimpse into his mind so she had chosen her office in Konoha's hospital for their first meeting after her rather disastrous time in his mind.

_"Hello there Uzumaki-san, do you remember me?" Noriko greeted the figure standing in the doorway, a bit apprehensive of what he would do._

_"Of course Yamanaka-san, I understand that I have to report to you weekly from now on?"_

_"Please call me Noriko, all my patients do."_

_Naruto remained silent, entering her office with the caution of a seasoned shinobi entering the office of a rival Kage. He took the seat offered to him and remained silent as Noriko gazed curiously at him. His appearance had changed a lot since she had last seen him, his black fatigues replaced by a new outfit that she assumed was to better blend in at the academy. For a moment she worried about her precious Ino who was in the same class as Naruto but quelled her fear. _

_"You fear me." A simple statement that none the less shook Noriko._

_"I beg your pardon?"_

_"I can smell it, you are afraid of me." She thought she detected a trace of sadness in his otherwise emotionless tone._

_"Okay, yes, perhaps I do. After all I've seen inside you, but I am still here to help."_

_"Help? Why do I need help?"_

"Please sit down Naruto, you've been coming here for the past three months, I'm sure know that you don't need permission everytime." Noriko was always mildly exasperated by the boy's stoic behavior, in anyone else his age, she would have put it down to some sort of childish display of resistance but in Naruto's case, she was prepared to forgive a lot of his strange behavior given what she had come to know about him in the past few months.

"Why don't you tell me how your weeks been going? Anything new happened between you and your teammates? Any difficulties with your missions?" Noriko settled herself in her chair opposite Naruto who had taken a rather uncomfortable perch on one of the two comfortable armchairs that sat facing each other in the room. His missions were always a good source of material for their sessions, he invariably had something that he wanted to get off his chest, she could understand from a professional point of view how having to play an idiot in front of a couple of genins when he had been an elite shinobi would grate on his nerves.

"No…" Naruto's reply caused a slight tilt to the corner of Noriko's lips, he always denied there was a problem at first but he still kept coming to their sessions. After the first month of mandatory therapy with her, the Hokage had told Naruto that he only needed to see Noriko when he wanted now and that if he wished he could stop going altogether. This had been Noriko's idea, she had hoped and it appeared to be working, that by making their sessions together voluntary, Naruto would feel in control of another part of his life and this in turn would encourage him to open up more. The gamble seemed to have worked as Naruto still turned up each week on her doorstep, inevitably offering up new insights for Noriko each time he came by.

"Come on Naruto, tell me what's the matter? Is it your teammates again? Or something else?"

Noriko recalled her first session with Naruto, he had been extremely tightlipped at first but when she had asked him his opinion on his teammates, a veritable tirade had flowed from his mouth that had shocked her at his sudden loquacity:

_"They're so weak!" the words tumbled out of Naruto's mouth before he could clamp down and restrain himself. For Noriko this sudden outburst from the silent boy had been a surprise, she was happy that he had finally ceased his one word answers._

_"How so?"_

_"They just are! They have no skills, their training is pathetic! They wouldn't last a day on a mission and all they do is complain! They don't have a clue as to what a real shinobi has to do, have to go through to succeed, they just think it's all some sort of game!" Naruto's voice was raised in anger, his knuckles white where they clutched the arms of the chair._

_"Surely that's a little unfair, they've only just come out of the academy, won't they learn with time?"_

_"Academy! Pfah! Coddled like babies, with their teachers and clans and parents all so concerned about them! I learnt to be a shinobi through blood and pain not... I wish…I wish…." Naruto's tirade trailed of as he realized what he was saying, settling into an awkward silence. Noriko didn't know what to say to that, she knew his upbringing had been very brutal but she had never thought about what it must have been like for Naruto to be chucked from that existence into the safe and comfortable world of the academy, to be surrounded by his peers in age only who had no clue as to his own past. To see them with their families and friends must have been difficult for him to understand and cope with. She suspected that the Hokage had overlookd this problem as well, it would not have occurred to him or anyone that seeing his peers in their happy lives would have been a source of great jealousy for Naruto. Noriko rubbed her eyes as she sought for words, it was so easy to forget that despite his experiences and formidable skills, that Naruto was still a kid._

"It was the Sasuke…he made fun of my name, he called me 'fishcake'…it was stupid and just an insult, I've been called worse, a lot worse! But, it hurt…I don't know why but it did…I don't want it to hurt."

"Have you considered that it's because you care what your teammates think of you?"

"No!" the denial was swift and vehement, but Noriko knew better. Slowly over time Naruto had unknowingly grown closer to his teammates, whether he had wanted to or not, his stoic wall that he erected as part of his ROOT training was slowly being eroded by the constant close proximity of his team.

_"Do you care for your teammate Naruto?"_

_"Yes, as a Konoha shinobi, it is important to protect ones teammates from danger. This doctrine is a part of Konoha training and strong teamwork is the hallmark of a Leaf shinobi."_

_"That's not what I meant, do __**you**__ care for your teammates?"_

_"I don't understand. My feelings about my teammates have no impact on our performance and have no relevance."_

_"So you __**do**__ have feelings?" Noriko was quite pleased to have caught Naruto in a verbal trap, this was the first opportunity he had given her to expose his thoughts about his team._

_"I…they have no relevance…" Naruto suppressed a groan, he knew that these sessions were meant to be an outlet for his emotions but it never felt right to air them out loud after suppressing them instinctually for so long. "They irritate me…they make me angry and annoyed and I hate their weakness…." Naruto paused, averting his face away from Noriko. One of the few things she insisted on was that during her sessions he always took his hood of so she could see his face. She had tried to persuade him to take of his hood around his teammates but he had been adamantly against it."They're so frustrating….but…"_

_"What Naruto?"_

_"Kakashi-sensei, I mean Kakashi…we completed our mission on time without any difficulties and he said that I had 'done well'….and…"_

_"That was praise Naruto…"_

_"I know what praise is! It's just, it made me feel…happy…which is ridiculous! I've done S-ranked missions for Kami's sake and I get giddy just because my sensei says I've done a good job painting a house!"_

_"People care about what those close to them think, it's perfectly natural Naruto and healthy."_

_"I don't care! It's just my mission!"_

"I'm not stupid…"

"I know that Naruto, you're remarkably insightful for one so young. Who said you were stupid?"

"It…it wasn't a big deal, Sasuke doesn't know any better…"

"What happened Naruto?"

"I was keeping my cover for this dumb mission…I have to act dumb, I should have been pleased that he bought my cover but I wasn't…it hurt…" Noriko knew better than to try to pursue the idea that Naruto cared for his teammates, whenever she tried to expand on the topic he would clam up.

"Are you having difficulty with your mission? Is it becoming a problem?"

"No…but it's stupid, I'm the least qualified to do this, it should be our sensei or…I don't know, someone else! I should be used properly, not having my talents wasted on D-ranks! Everyday it's the same dumb missions, clean the kennels, paint a house, walk the dogs, collect shopping, catch a freakin cat!"

Noriko hid a smile behind a cough as she recalled Naruto's hatred for his D-rank missions. She remembered the first time he had shown visible emotion during one of their sessions was after a mission to catch the infamous demon cat Tora.

_"You seem angry today Naruto, what happened?"_

_"Happened? Angry? I'll tell you what happened! It was a stupid bloody shitty cat! Damned animal scum! How hard should it be to catch a dumb fucking cat huh? I mean D-ranks are stupid as shit and annoying as fuck but for Kami's sake we're supposed to be genin! Ninja! Shit ninja but still fuckin ninja! We should be able to catch some fucking dumb ass animal without getting our ass kicked? What kind of lame ass mother…"_

_Noriko lent back in her chair and let the invective laden rant wash over, surprised as all hell at Naruto's language and sudden display of emotion. On one level she could understand his frustration, the capture Tora mission was one that all genin dreaded and hated. She remembered her own time as a genin, struggling to catch the same damn cat! A popular theory amongst the ninja's of Konoha was that Tora was the Boss summon for the Cat clan and that the Hokage used her to test his genins on coping with stress…it was a good theory she was willing to admit._

_"…so then Sakura lets go just because she get a little scratch so I jump in just so we can finish the damn mission on time. But the stupid bloody cat….it's gotta be a summon! That's the only explanation! I mean it almost took of my damn arm! Gaaaarh…"_

"Do you regret agreeing to the mission?"

"Regret? It's my job, I know that at the moment this is how I can best serve Konoha…but still, it really sucks! The mission is just so…boring! I need something, anything…"

"I understand Naruto, many professional shinobi go through similar emotions when they leave active duty or are assigned to a genin team. They still crave the action and danger, but with time they adjust and I'm sure that you will to, you've already come so far. I think that in a few months you will really begin to…"

Noriko was cutoff mid-sentence as the door to her study burst open.

"Mom! Mom, check it out! Check out this cool trick Asuma-sensei taught us today!" Ino cried out excitedly as she charged into the room unwittingly disturbing its occupants.

"Ino!" Noriko scolded her daughter "You know better than to disturb me during one of my sessions! I'm so sorry Nar…" Noriko trailed of in her apology as she gazed at the chair where her client had been sitting only a moment ago. It was now empty. _How? I didn't feel any chakra surge or hear anything…_She shivered, it was too easy to forget that Naruto was still a trained killer.

"Mom? What are you talking about?" Ino crossed her arms, annoyed at being ignored. Her mother was just looking at an empty chair, Ino rolled her eyes. Honestly, sometimes parents were just too much!

"Hm? Oh nothing dear, now why don't you show me this cool new trick of yours?"

* * *

Naruto carefully made his way home through the city's streets as twilight crept up on Konoha. His path took him through the gathering shadows, carefully avoiding the busy streets in favor of darkened alleys, he sidestepped a pile of rubbish overflowing from a dumpster outside a restaurant as his mind wandered. A few months ago he would have simply shunshined his way home to avoid the walk but things had changed for him significantly over that time. A part of him was uncomfortable to these changes and did its best to minimize their affects, but for the most part he was curious. Curiosity had never been encouraged in ROOT, you did your mission and that was it, no questions asked. But now…it was all so new! The ninja's made jokes and laughed, they played nonsensical games with each other when they could have been training, a thousand new possibilities had suddenly appeared in front of him and his head was spinning! In a way he missed ROOT, missed the structure and certainty of his orders and the organization of every bit of his daily life. Then again, there was suddenly so much to see and hear, so much to learn! His short time in the academy had been a shock to his senses, and he had thrown himself into his mission to avoid facing a world that had so swiftly changed for him. Now he had no way of avoiding it, his 'team' and 'sensei' ensured that at least half the day was spent in their infuriating company. Anger, a new feeling for him that had become an almost constant state around his 'team'. This was new, bloodlust and battle rage he understood, gift from his prisoners that came out when he was at his worst. But anger, the feeling of wanting to strangle Sasuke for his snide remarks or the urge to slap the shit out of Sakura when she repeatedly failed at a task…that was new, and worrying for him. He had used to be a perfect example of ROOT training, a fact he was proud of, pride! Another new feeling for him, sure there had been a feeling of satisfaction when he completed a mission but not pride! Emotions! He spat, surprising a fat rat feasting on some garbage, causing it to scuttle of into the dumpster.

The whole point of this ridiculous 'therapy' was to let his 'feelings' out so that they wouldn't bother him so much, but it didn't seem to be working! He felt better after his time with the Yamanaka head-tinkerer and he had less difficulty controlling his outbursts afterwards…but the feelings still came back! He still got annoyed with Sakura over her ineptitude, still felt angry when Sasuke belittled him for mucking up on a mission, still for some hell blasted reason felt a feeling of pride and happiness when his 'sensei' praised him…it wasn't working!

Naruto found himself back in his apartment; his body on autopilot had let itself in, avoiding and disarming the various nasty traps he set to secure his home. He was still fresh, the days missions had involved painting an old lady's house and taking the Inuzaka dogs for a walk, neither task particularly tasking on his stamina. Nonetheless, Naruto decided to retire for the evening, his session with Noriko took a lot out of him mentally even if it was just once a week. He boiled up a pack of rations that he had stolen from a ROOT cache and sat down to eat them while avidly studying a scroll on genjutsu.

He spent the remainder of his evening in meditation, trying to calm his aching mind before deciding to head to bed. A clever observer, and they would have to have been clever to watch Naruto without his knowledge, might have picked up on a small occurrence that took place before he went to bed. Naruto took himself away to his bathroom where after a few minutes he emerged and after switching of his light went to bed, swiftly falling asleep. Now the clever observer, if he had exceptional night vision would have seen a shadow slink across from the bathroom, a climb into a gap amidst the beams of the roof, wedging itself there securely before stilling itself as it drifted off to sleep while the clone in his bed continued to mimic sleep for the remainder of the night. The observer who was indeed quite clever and did in fact have exceptional night vision remained for a while, watching through the boy's window as he sat on the rooftop opposite. After a while what had looked like nothing more than a shadow, crept away from the water butt and made its way stealthily away. The shadow was revealed as it passed by a lit shop front, briefly illuminating the mask and spiky silver hair of Kakashi Hatake as he made his way down the street.

Naruto yawned as he woke up the following morning. No light greeted him as he carefully lowered himself down from his spot amongst the beams, it was four o'clock and Konoha was still dark and quiet, with only a few signs of life in the village. He needed no alarm clock or watch to tell him the time, his internal body clock well trained to awake him when he wanted, the six hours of sleep he had gotten during the night was unusually long for him, his metabolism and unique chakra allowing him to do with very little sleep. He had slept in his clothes, a practice of habit for him; even here in supposedly safe territory he refused to let his guard drop. A swift change into an identical outfit before making his bed, the clone assigned to fake sleep had dispelled sometime during the night, an irritating but unavoidable occurrence. There should be some way to make the damn things last longer! He had tried pumping them full of chakra but that just made them more rebellious; a trait he tried hard to stomp out in his clones but so far had been unsuccessful in doing so. Stupid things, they would be so useful if only they were more obedient and controlled! As it was he dislike summoning shadow clones expect when necessary as they invariably ended up with a dangerously boisterous personality very much against his own demeanour.

Naruto made his way stealthily out of his window and up onto the roof, his own door and stairs seldom used, he carried a small pack with him that contained his essential supplies for the day but that was all. Once on the flat rooftop, he ran through a series of stretches, an important part of his daily ritual, just because he was no longer running dangerous missions, didn't mean that he had to let his fitness drop. After stretching his muscles to his satisfaction he took up a pose on top of the air conditioning unit, breathing in the fresh morning air just as the first hints of dawn lightened the skies in the east. Happy or at least content with what he saw, he jumped of the rooftop with a mighty leap onto the roofs on the opposite side of the street.

He allowed a smile to form on his face, hidden below his hood that despite the wind racing past him remained in place. Setting his pace at a flat out sprint he began his morning exercise of parkour over the roofs of Konoha, his destination set for training ground seven where his team was supposed to meet in several hours.

* * *

And so it was that with the sun beginning its ascent into the sky, its beating rays shone down in dappled shafts of light between the leaves of a proud young pine tree, where in the shade Naruto sat, waiting for his team to arrive. His mind was busy despite his efforts to still its turmoil, his body aching somewhat from the vigorous exercise that he had put it through earlier. As he sat attempting to meditate, he found his thoughts revolving around the subject of what he and his teammate's duties would be this day. Another series of mind-numbing D-ranks seemed the likeliest outcome, perhaps his elite training would be put to good use repairing a roof or stacking crates in a warehouse…maybe, and he let himself idly hope, maybe they would finally get a C-rank, something to take them out of the village even if the chance of combat was slim it would at least let him get out into the world! But no, Naruto mentally sighed in exasperation, their sensei seemed to delight in the most mundane of D-rank missions, he supposed that after so many years of combat and life threatening missions, Kakashi was enjoying the chance for peace and quiet. Personally he didn't understand, they were shinobi, their life was one of hardship were the only chance for peace was death on a battlefield. So…no chance of a C-rank. He resigned himself to another day of chores and boredom, stuck in his role of an inept failure, having to act the role of a dullard around Sasuke and Sakura…oh how it galled him!

They had been ordered to meet at nine o'clock, but by now they were wise to their sensei's tricks, and so turned up at eleven, Sakura first, slightly early before being followed by Sasuke who strolled into the clearing feigning disinterest as he tried to sneakily look around for any sign of his third teammate, ignoring Sakura's greetings. It irritated him no end that despite his best efforts, he could never find any trace of Naruto but the damn dobe always appeared out of nowhere when their sensei arrived. After settling down underneath the nearest tree, he continued to ignore Sakura's attempts at conversation and prepared to wait for their lazy teacher to arrive.

At half past twelve he finally showed up, arriving in a poof of smoke that startled both Sakura and Sasuke, though Sasuke tried his best not to show it.

"You're late!" screeched Sakura, rightly pissed off at their perpetually tardy sensei.

"I'm sorry my cute little genin," Kakashi bent down to smile blindly in Sakura's face. "But I couldn't find my lucky penny this morning so I had to search my entire apartment for it during which I broke my mirror…"

"LIAR!" Sakura screamed, her face turning red, her anger at her sensei that had been building up over the past few weeks at constant D-ranks and Kakashi's ridiculous excuse exploding out of her.

A quiet laugh came from behind the tree Sasuke was standing under, and as he spun around he saw Naruto emerge from the shadows where he had been hidden, his laugh at Sakura's rage having given him away. Sasuke glared angrily at him, annoyed that Naruto had once more managed to evade his detection, Naruto ignored the anger radiating of Sasuke and stepped out into the clearing to join Sakura and Kakashi.

"Well, now that all of my team is here, I guess we can start!"

They made their way to the Hokage tower to pick up their first mission of the day, the group moving in a silence as Kakashi tried marched sternly at the lead.

Iruka welcomed them to the mission room cheerily; this genin squad was his favorite, they were always successful and efficient in their missions even if they were all D-rank. Personally he was happy they weren't going on dangerous missions, it was good that today's youth didn't have to risk their lives fighting some aristocrats battles, he had seen the results of war and was glad that they now lived in peace.

"Welcome guys,"

"ahem!"

"And girls of course, my apologies Sakura," Iruka smiled at Kakashi who returned it from behind his genin. "What will it be today then, I've got some exciting D-ranks that are just begging for your attention; we've got some household tasks, a message needs taking to the gatehouse, a few boxes of supplies need to be delivered to the hospital, ah..this looks like it could be good," Team seven perked up at this, wanting something more exciting than the tedious D-ranks that they had been doing for what seemed like forever! "Yes, the Hokage needs a team to babysit his grandson for the day…" They all groaned including Naruto as Kakashi continued to smile happily seemingly ignorant of his team's resentment.

"Okay, okay guys how about this one, Tora the cat…" Iruka's pronouncement was met was another chorus of groans and an angry yell from of all people Naruto, much to the surprise of those gathered there.

"Enough, godamn it enough! I am fed up with these stupid bloody D-ranks and of that demonic shit of a cat! I want a proper bloody mission for Kami's sake! Enough is enough!"

They all stared at the hooded boy, from where the angry tirade had come from. Sakura stared for a second, about to rebuke Naruto for his rudeness in front of their superiors but she agreed with his feelings on the subject of D-ranks.

"Yeah, give us a real mission Kakashi-sensei, we can handle it!"

"Hn!" Sasuke grunted his agreement with the general sentiment in his team.

"Guys! The rank of what mission you take is decided by your sensei, if you want a higher ranked mission you will have to convince Kakashi-san that you are ready for it." Iruka had to fight to keep a straight face, amused at the kids reactions.

"Kakashi-sensei please, please, please we can do it!" Sakura begged.

"We are more than capable." Naruto chipped in.

"Hn!"

"Hehehehe…" Kakashi chuckled as he continued to smile at his team, "you guys should have said something earlier, I thought you were happy with the missions, you didn't say anything so I didn't want to ruin the good thing we had going…if you'd wanted a higher ranked mission you should have just asked!"

The three genin unanimously sweat dropped, as Kakashi continued to smile at them while Iruka let out a burst of laughter. Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were too shocked by their sensei's confession to do anything other than gape in astonishment and anger.

"Hahahaha…oh well in that case I guess I can give you a C-rank mission then, and we've got a fresh one that's just come in for you, very exciting if that's any consolation."

Iruka was smiling widely; greatly amused by the rather cruel joke Kakashi had played on his team. The three of them perked up at this announcement waiting with baited breath for Iruka's next words.

"We've got a client that needs an escort to the Wave Country, if that meets with your sensei's approval?" When Kakashi nodded, still smiling, Iruka tossed him a scroll. "All the information you need is in the scroll, I'm sure your eager to get started, your client is waiting downstairs."

The three genin celebrated in their own various ways to happy with finally getting a higher ranked mission to complain to their sensei about his withholding of information, Sakura whooped excitedly before looking around embarrassed, Sasuke grinned quietly to himself pleased for a chance to demonstrate his skills while Naruto exhaled a deep breath and relaxed considerably, eager to be getting out of the village. Kakashi continued smiling, amused by how easily his genin had been tricked and somewhat saddened that he would no longer be able to enjoy such prime reading time as afforded to him by D-rank's. He was slightly anxious about going out of the village with his genins, especially Naruto but it was just a simple C-rank so it would be fine, he was sure.

* * *

**So kind of a filler chapter, I want to get to the action but don't just want to rush ahead, I felt I did the D-rank mission's well, instead of devoting a chapter to them doing random boring stuff, I tried to examine Naruto's state of mind a bit more...felt it went well. Yes yes I know the wave mission, but it's going to be important cause of Haku and Naruto...so stay tuned! The wave will probably be the last major cannon arc thingy as after that we can start getting to some reallllllly good stuff :D**

**My thanks for imsabbel and dracomancer6491 for reviewing the previous chapter, I would like to think that the reason I haven't got anymore reviews is cause I upload quickly (yeah right, i honestly don't know how good my upload speed is, i feel its quite good but hey...) and not because my story sucks :( I don't like fishing for reviews but seriously they are wonderful and really do mean a lot to the author, I feel kind of guilty cos when i first started reading stories on here i never reviewed (karma!) but now i always try to. anyway enough of me being a whingy git!**

**imsabbel: thank you for your review, really happy that you like the chapter, i felt incredilby guilty about the genin test formula as i really wanted to do something completely different but just couldn't think of anything! but yay it was okay!**

**dracomancer6491: glad you like the chapter, thank you for the information on MPD/schizophrenia i get what you said schizophrenia was but didn't understand what you said about disociative disorder? to be honest did very little research for Naruto's state of mind, just wrote what i wanted to work in the story. I probably won't be adding more of an explanation to it in the near future cos lets face it, its fiction and real life mental illnesses are complicated things. but thank you nonetheless and if you want to give me more information on dissociative disorder(?) then i'll try to work it into an explanation further along.**

**Okay guys thanks for reading and i hoped you enjoyed! Next time: Mission to the Wave! (Part 1 of 3 maybe) XD**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey-ho, new chapter yay...what horrible slowness...shush! It will get better...honest!**

**My thanks to imsabbel, kishinokurobi, DaMayanKing(cool name!), PutPutJunior and dracomancer6491 for reviewing :D**

**Do not own Naruto, does not waaant! Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Team Seven made its way down the sun baked road, excited to be out of the village and eager for adventure. It was almost noon but they showed no signs of stopping for lunch, bursting with the energy of youth. Behind the three exuberant genins, their client amicably shambled along engulfed in the pleasant haze provided by his generous swigs from a large bottle of sake, Kakashi brought up the rear, enjoying the contents of his book and the sounds of his happy genin. Even Naruto was in a good mood this morning, actually making comments without first having to be prompted! Next thing he knew, Sasuke would ask Sakura out!

The atmosphere was so peaceful and relaxed that Tazuna was taken completely by surprise when the three kids in front of him whirled around to stare with a look of horror behind him. By the time he had turned around himself, all he could do was stare in shock at the bloody chunks of the jounin assigned to guard him that littered the road as he fought not to vomit. His untrained eyes only caught a glimpse of two shadows that rushed past, leaving him shell-shocked in the middle of the path as the two assassins intent on ending his life circled round to strike from behind.

"One down Gozu!"

"Four to go Meizu!"

Sakura could only watch in horror as her sensei was shredded, her mind unable to cope with the sudden overload. She had been lectured on death and had known she would have to face it during her career but this…Kakashi-sensei dead! No! That was impossible; he was jounin…an elite amongst shinobi! Now they were all going to die! As the two assassins sped towards them, her body overrode the shock, training taking over as she raced into a defensive position in front of Tazuna. Her kunai drawn she assumed a basic stance, ignoring her own body's instincts to flee and hide. They had trained for situations like this, and no matter what she would do her duty!

Sasuke had been shocked by Kakashi's death, he was no stranger to bloody deaths but the brutal dismemberment of their sensei had caused him to pause in horror for several seconds as flashbacks of his past briefly ran through his mind. He shook himself free from the haunting thought in time to see Naruto duck and twist between the two chain wielding ninja as they passed by him. They paid no heed to their missed target but instead continued to charge straight for Sasuke, cackling madly as the chain they wielded flicked out towards him, intent on slicing him in half. He gritted his teeth as he prepared to fight, his body shaking with anticipation, this was what he had been training for, this was what he had been preparing for. To test his strength again and again…

Skillfully Sasuke launched himself into the air to avoid the oncoming chain attack, with a deft flick of his wrist the palmed shuriken and kunai plucked the chains links out of the air and pinned them to the hard dirt in the road. It would only hold a moment, but a moment was all he needed. Twisting himself in the air, he managed to grasp the thick gauntlets on his attackers wrists as he twisted overhead.

Caught by surprise, his attackers were knocked back as his sandaled feet connected with each of their faces respectively. To his surprise, his kick had very little effect other than sending them reeling. _Damn it! Looks like I need to take it up a notch!_ As he landed, the horned ninja disconnected their chain that had become entangled and prepared to attack him with the sharpened spikes on the fingers of their gauntlets. Drawing a kunai, Sasuke ignored Sakura's shout of "Watch out Sasuke!" and prepared to defend himself.

"Let's show this little sprout the power of the demon!" announced the two horned ninja to his one horned partner.

"You got it Go…urk!" Meizu collapsed forward, eyes rolling into the back of his skull as he flopped to the floor like a sack of potatoes. Gozu stared in shock and horror at the kunai handle that protruded from the back of his brother's skull, his opponent forgotten.

"Meizu…." Gozu lifted his gaze from his brother's dead body to the hooded shadow standing behind his body. They had both ignored the little genin that had dodged their first attack, thinking him of no consequence, no his brother lay dead from a lucky shot!

"You bastard! I'll fuckin kill you for that!" screamed Gozu , blinded with rage and grief at the loss of Meizu. He charged blindly at the still target, ignoring everything else in his madness.

He only made it a few paces before "BAM" a kick to the back of the neck knocked him sprawling to the ground. Still maddened by grief he tried to struggle to his feet to continue his attack on the hooded statue only a few steps away. Another swift blow from Sasuke put him down for the count this time, a hard chop to the neck knocked him into a deep sleep, leaving him breathing heavily face down in the dirt.

Sasuke took in a deep breath, as the adrenaline pumped through his body. _That was awesome! So this is what true combat is like….I think I could get used to this!_ His thoughts were interrupted as behind him he heard Sakura burst into sobs, as she collapsed onto her knees, coming down of the brief burst of adrenaline as the shock of what had happened sunk in. She knelt in the middle of the road in front of a still stunned Tazuna who had yet to move from the spot, great heaving sobs wracking her chest as tears coursed down her cheeks.

_Shit…I …_Sasuke really hated it when people cried around him, he had no clue as to how to comfort them and it made him feel horribly awkward. He glanced at Naruto for help who was now kneeling next to the sleeping body of Gozu. He snorted at that idea, _as if! Mr Robot couldn't emote his way out of a wet paper bag…shit. Damn I've got to take charge of this mess; Kakashi-sensei's…._Sasuke glanced at the bloody heap of body parts further up the road, swiftly averting his eyes to avoid the stomach turning sight. It was pointless to stand around weeping, they would have to do something…but what? _Well let's stop Sakura crying first thing, we might get attacked again!_

Awkwardly he crouched next to Sakura's sobbing form and patted her shoulder nervously as if afraid of an explosion.

"…There…there, Sakura" He gritted his teeth as she continued to sob, _Why the fuck couldn't it have been Naruto to breakdown? At least then Sakura could have hit him or he could have said something mean to take the dobe out of it! How the hell did you deal with crying women?_

"It's okay Sakura…chan…Your safe now, we've dealt with the enemy, its okay. C'mon, it's okay!" He continued to pet her somewhat gingerly on the shoulder as her sobbing eased up for a moment, _How did we defeat them? I took out one but Naruto..how did that dobe manage to kill one?_

"It's not okay! Kakashi-sensei's dead and we're alone and we've failed our mission and we don't know what to do and we're all alone!" Sakura wailed, raising her head to look at Sasuke with red eyes. She sniffled into the hanky that Sasuke proffered as he looked away in embarrasement. _Shit_, he had forgotten about Kakashi's death for a second, _how the hell did that happen! _If he and Naruto could take down those two then how did a jounin get killed!

"It'll be okay Sakura" he muttered rather unconvincingly. Getting pissed off at Naruto for not helping with his problem he glared over at him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I was tying this one up so that if he does regain consciousness then we will be able to question him without risking getting attacked."

"Oh… "Guess_ that shut me up…_ Sasuke was angry, angry that Naruto had just embarrassed him AND been able to defeat his opponent with help, angry that Sakura was a mess and that she had reminded him of their situation when he had been enjoying the feeling of defeating his enemy and angry at their stupid, lazy, good for nothing sensei for dying on them!

"What the hell just happened!?" A rather shaky voiced question from Tazuna who stood white faced in the same position he had been two minutes ago when the attack had started, roused Sasuke from his thoughts.

"We were attacked…" Sasuke assumed the role of speaker, Sakura was still sniffling into his hanky and god knows what Naruto was doing with their captive, it looked like…no….yes, he was prodding Gozu in the ear with a small stick! Sasuke rolled his eyes as he faced their client, nervous of seemingly being the one in charge now.

"No shit! This wasn't supposed to happen! That jounin bloke is in little bits, fat lot of good he was! Who were those guys and why were they attacking?"

"His name was Kakashi and he was our sensei," Sasuke resisted the urge to punch Tazuna.

"Well, since you seem to have resolved the situation, looks like we better get going again, not far to the Wave now." Tazuna went to continue walking but was stopped by a Sasuke's hand on his wrist.

"Continue! In case you didn't notice, we just lost our leader and teacher, Sakura's still hasn't recoverd from seeing that and the dobe just killed someone for the first time! We're in no condition to complete this mission, I'm sorry Tazuna-san but we're going to have to turn around and return to Konoha!"

"Oh come on! You lead the mission, you seem like a capable guy" Sasuke ignored Tazuna's shameless appeal to his ego, stifling the thought of agreeing with him. "And I'm sure pinky over there will be fine in a minute or two, gal just needs to get moving to shake her out of her slump!" Sakura glared up at him, her tears evaporating as anger at their insensitive client concentrated her mind. "And as for the freak…" They all turned to look at Naruto who was now using a pair of twigs, wiggling them around in both of Gozu's ears. Sensing their gaze on him, he looked up to give a cheery wave before turning back to his twigs. "…I'm sure he's fine as well." Tazuna shrugged his shoulders as Sasuke faceplanted at Naruto's seriously odd behavior.

"His names Naruto," Sakura finally spoke, still glaring at Tazuna.

"Hmmm, still a freak. I call's them like I see's them, I'm a bridge builder."

"He's not a freak and he helped save your life you miserable, selfish, drunk old man!"

Now Sakura was shouting, on her feet with her fists clenched at her side as she stomped over to Tazuna who ducked behind Sasuke and tried to hide behind a boy a lot shorter than him, afraid of the sudden surge of anger coming from her.

"Now Sakura, calm down, we can't attack our client!" Sasuke waved his hands desperately as he tried to calm Sakura down, he had never seen this angry side of her and while it was an improvement over her crying a few moments ago, he was suddenly afraid for the first time in his life of Sakura.

"Why not?" Sakura had an evil glint in her eye as she advanced on the quaking Tazuna, ignoring Sasuke. "No one's here, it's just us…terrible things have been known to happen out in the wilds after all!"

"eeep..I mean calm down, he didn't mean it I'm sure!" Sasuke was now almost quaking as well, _What is this? Genjutsu? How is she suddenly so much bigger? Where did that demonic shadow come from?_ "Look he'll apologize…ah please Sakura you can't attack him!"

"Ahahaaaa…ahahahaha..haahaha!" The peal of laughter from Naruto abruptly broke the menacing atmosphere as they turned to look at the laughing boy, Sasuke and Tazuna happy for the distraction while Sakura was amazed to hear Naruto laugh. It was so strange to hear the childlike laughter from someone so serious and silent as Naruto. "Ahahaa, you should see yourselves, hahaaha…ah poor Sasuke-kun's all afraid of Big Bad Sakura! Ahahaa…"

"SHUT UP NARUTO!" chorused Sasuke and Sakura together, embarrassed at how they had been acting.

"Maaaa, not so loud you guys! Some enemy's might still be lurking around waiting to pounce on my cute little genin!"

The familiar voice was accompanied by a puff of smoke in the middle of them as their sensei appeared, sheepishly rubbing his head and smiling at them gingerly through his mask.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!"

The team stared at their undead sensei who was still smiling at their gobsmacked faces.

"You're supposed to be dead!" screamed Sakura rather hysterically, her emotional meter unable to cope with anymore drama. Sasuke assumed a ready stance, prepared to fight once again if this was just a trick by another enemy, shoving Tazuna behind him and drawing his kunai to stand at the ready.

"Nope, not dead!" Kakashi announced. "I'm hurt Sakura, did you really believe your beloved sensei was taken down so easily? I'm hurt that you think so little of me!"

"I thought you were dead!" Sakura threw herself at Kakashi, trying to smack him with her fists before she stopped her futile attempts to hit him and collapsed sobbing into his vest as the tension from the fight drained out of her. Sasuke watched feeling embarrassed but secretly he was really quite happy that Kakashi was still alive.

"It's okay Sakura, it's okay…."

Kakashi gave her a gentle squeeze back. He felt somewhat guilty about letting his genin team think he had died, but it had been a perfect time to test their reactions under stress. Overall he was fairly impressed by them all, both Sasuke and Sakura had exceeded his expectations, with Sasuke performing very impressively against his opponent while Sakura had done well to hold her ground and protect the client. Naruto at least had protected his teammates although he was sure that Naruto had known about the henge he had used on his kawarmi to fake his dismemberment. The interesting part had been after the fight, how both Sakura and Sasuke had managed to cope with the loss of their leader. Overall he was very proud of his squad, sure there were issues to work on, but for a genin team's first battle they had done very well.

"I thought you had died Kakashi-sensei! I was so scared!" Sakura continued to cry, not caring about her crush watching awkwardly.

"That's what I wanted you to think, I'm sorry for scaring you guys but I had to know how you would behave in a real fight and you all did brilliantly!"

The team brightened up at this statement, Sasuke grinning at the praise while Sakura stopped crying and gave a weak smile up at her sensei.

"Kakashi-sensei? This guy's waking up." Naruto spoke up from where he was perched atop Gozu, having paid little attention to Kakashi's lengthy exposition on his reasons for not joining in the fight, as far as he was concerned the more fighting for him the better…he had really enjoyed digging the kunai into the two horned ninja's head.

"Ah, good job on taking him alive Sasuke, perhaps next time Naruto can avoid killing a potential source of information, let's see what this rascal can tell us. Naruto and Sasuke I want you guys to form a perimeter to make sure were not disturbed and Sakura…?" Kakashi smiled at Sakura who now smiled back wholeheartedly, "I want you to guard our client, if that's okay with you Tazuna-san?"

"Shouldn't we be getting back on the road, I don't mean to tell you your jobs but wouldn't it be better not to hang around?" Tazuna looked around nervously, as if expecting an attack from an army of ninjas at any moment.

"Relax Tazuna-san, for us it's important to find out why these rogue nin were attacking us, I wanted to see what they were after when they attacked but my cute little students took down their attackers so fast I didn't learn anything. I'm still curious as to why a pair of rogue chunin would attack a jounin and a genin team…unless you can think of a reason that they would be attacking hmm?"

"Uh..no…no clue, go ahead and question him. It's not…it's not going to be…messy, is it?" Tazuna looked positively queasy at the prospect of further violence.

"Messy? Heavens no…don't worry Tazuna-san, I'm just going to have a little chat with our friend here."

Tazuna looked on a bit warily as Kakashi hauled Gozu up onto his shoulder and carried him into the treeline. After a couple of minutes passed, Tazuna spoke to Sakura who was standing alertly by his side whilst Naruto and Sasuke stood at opposite positions on the road, looking for any sign of movement.

"He's taking a bit long isn't he? We could be attacked at any moment! I'm super happy that you kids tried to protect me and all but I don't like the idea of being all alone out here in case those guys buddies decide to show up."

"I'm sure Kakashi-sensei knows what he's doing Tazuna-san, he'll be back in a moment." Sakura was annoyed that she had been assigned to watch their client while Sasuke and Naruto were allowed to wander around the area, sure they were 'guarding' but she would have felt a hell of a lot safer if Kakashi sensei had been there.

"Sure, sure, I'm not saying that he doesn't missy, but it's just surely completely your mission right now is the priority, I just think we would be better moving along rather than trying to question some lowlife bandit." Tazuna shrugged his shoulders while still pointedly looking at Sakura who felt incredibly awkward to being put on the spot.

"I'm sorry Tazuna-san but I…"

"I'll go get Kakashi sensei right away Tazuna-san!" Naruto had suddenly popped into the conversation seemingly from nowhere surprising both Tazuna and Sakura at how quickly he had managed to get so close without them noticing.

"Naruto…wha..?" was all Sakura could sputter out.

"Our client is clearly unhappy Sakura, we must do our best to please our client. I'll go and fetch our sensei." Naruto was fidgeting excitedly beneath his heavy clothes, seeming eager to get away from the road.

"Our sensei ordered us to guard the road dobe." Sasuke had wandered over casually to see what Naruto was doing and had interjected his opinion into the conversation.

"I'm sure that you can do that, we must be respectful of our client's wishes." Naruto's insistence and reasonable tone of voice had both Sakura and Tazuna nodding their heads in agreement causing Sasuike to frown.

"Hn…" was all Sasuke said as he stalked off to resume his patrolling.

Naruto was happy with this result and without any further delay, bolted away in pursuit of his 'sensei', leaving a peeved pair of teammates behind.

Kakashi straightened up as he felt Naruto approaching. He could feel his strong chakra along with the rest of the team; he had only gone a short way into the woods, not intending to leave his team alone in the unlikely case of another attack. So far his prisoner had been very reluctant to talk probably partly to do with him still being very woozy from resuming consciousness. He had tried one of the few genjutsu's he knew on him but the tricky bastard had broken it rather easily and he was reluctant to try anything heavier for fear of wasting chakra. He was considering just leaving the prisoner tied up and sending a message back to Konoha for a prisoner pick up while his team continued their mission.

"Hey Naruto, what's the crisis?" he asked as Naruto appeared through the trees, noticing how Naruto seemed to have fixed his hooded gaze on the prisoner in a rather predatory way, not turning his head in Kakashi's direction even as he replied.

"Sensei, our client is getting very restless; it would be advisable to continue our journey."

Kakashi sighed, _bloody clients think they can tell us our jobs…_"I'm sure he is Naruto, but I was hoping to get some information out of our prisoner….I guess we can continue our journey, it doesn't look like this guy is going to be in a condition to tell us anything for a while. You can go back to the group and tell them I'm coming; I'll just secure the prisoner…"

Naruto nodded and left immediately, but as soon as he was out of sight, Kakashi felt a disturbance in his chakra as though he had cast a jutsu…_hmm, wonder what he's doing?_ Shaking his head, Kakashi quickly finished up with tying Gozu to a tree and dispatched a summon to Konoha. Making his way back to the road, he smiled at his team and the nervous Tazuna.

"Well, no point wasting time standing around, let's get going!"

They all brightened up considerably, Tazuna and Sakura glad to be getting away from the battle scene. Kakashi noticed that the Meizu's body had been tucked away into the bushes at the side of the road with Naruto somehow managing to look casually innocent while idly shuffling his feet. Kakashi had a bad feeling about Naruto, there was no way that boy was doing anything innocent! Still…Taking his place at the rear of the group once more, they all continued on their way, Naruto whistling a jaunty turn that garnered multiple looks for how strange it was for him.

* * *

In the clearing Gozu felt he had waited a reasonable length of time and began to twist and turn against the ropes trying to get free. _Weak Leaf fools! Their pathetic attempts at interrogation had been easy to avoid!_ He couldn't believe that he had been defeated by a bunch of genin! And Meizu! He growled as he continued to struggle, he would have his revenge on those fools! _Soon, just go to get free,,,hngh…then…_

"You're not going to get free you know…"

Gozu whipped his head around at the voice and screamed in fright.

"…Mei..meizu…." he whimpered as he stared into his brothers dead eyes.

"Nah, it's only me!" Naruto's head popped up from behind the body of Meizu, who he was maneuvering like a manikin right next to a tied up Gozu. Meizu's body. "Your friend here won't be a threat to anyone now, will you Meizu?" Naruto addressed the corpse, thrusting it further towards Gozu who was doing his best to burrow through the tree behind him to get away from the psychotic kid playing with his brothers corpse.

"You fucking freak, what the hell sort of genin are you, were the hell's the rest of your team huh?" Gozu spat out, trying to maintain a front of bravado. "I'm not going to tell you shit so you might as well just piss off! I'm a highly trained Mist ninja, I won't say a word!"

"mwahahahhahaaa….you're not going to have to say a word, I was going to try things the hard way and do and old fashioned interrogation but seeing as how you don't want to play then I guess we can do it the easy way." Naruto laughed in a soft chuckle, deriving immense pleasure from the way Gozu squirmed around trying to get free. Ignoring his attempts, Naruto dropped Meizu's corpse and moved around the tree so he was face to face with his prisoner. Grinning happily in the shadows of his hood, Naruto formed a triangle by putting the thumbs and forefingers of each hand together, placing them on Gozu's forehead and muttering the name of the jutsu under his breath; _Forbidden Technique; Mind Body Merge._

Gozu's eyes rolled up in his head and he ceased any movement as he relaxed and seemed to have fallen unconscious again. Naruto slumped forward; his hands slipping from Gozu's forehead as he also lost consciousness and fell awkwardly onto his side at Gozu's feet.

_Gozu looked around in fear, he was standing in a dark tunnel dimly lit by a faint red glow. He was filled with a terrible feeling of dread, as panicked he spun around in the ankle high '…water…yeah water…it's a genjutsu! Ha what a weak attempt to trap him! Gozu calmed himself, he had faced off tougher jutsu's than this before. He formed a basic seal to concentrate his chakra to break out of the jutsu but found himself unable to feel his chakra. 'What is this?' Panicking Gozu repeated his attempts to break out of the 'genjutsu', when his attempts at pulsing chakra failed he resorted to breaking his finger and as the pain hit him he realized with a shiver that something was seriously wrong with where he was. _

_"Funny isn't it?" Two figures watched Gozu from the dark shadows of the tunnel._

_"We need information remember."_

_"Ya, ya, I know, I know…still doesn't mean I can't have some fun right?"_

_"You can do whatever you want to him, but make sure you get what we need out of him first! You will not let him die until I know what we need, or you will regret it!"_

_"Psssh, whatever Grumpy! Now stand back and watch me work!"_

_Gozu cried out in terror as one end of the tunnel suddenly became a roaring inferno of flame, which formed a demonic face. Panicked Gozu ran away in fear as the demonic face pursued through a seemingly labyrinthine array of tunnels._

_"Idiot…" a figure stepped out of shadows, alone. Dressed in black with trimmed spiky blond hair, he followed the ripples in the water as he made his way after Gozu and the maniac chasing him._

Bound tightly against the tree trunk, there wasn't much of a difference at first in Gozu's body and after an hour of the two bodies slumped in the forest appearing to have fallen asleep, any watcher would have grown bored. After a couple of hours there was still no difference except that Gozu began to twitch very briefly before slumping over dead, a small trickle of blood oozing from beneath his lips. On the forest floor Naruto stirred, limps twitching as he regained consciousness, pushing himself up off the forest floor and rubbing his eyes as he awoke.

"Ugggh, great I got carried away again and spent too long in there…" The _Mind Body Merge _jutsu was a handy one to interrogate prisoners who were resistant to other techniques but the downside was he tended to get carried away with it, it was so easy to lose track of time. The information had been worth it though. _Shit! Got to get to the group and warn them before they stumble into the trap, they won't be able to cope without my help, Kakashi-san would have trouble with both of them…and my clone isn't going to be able to hold up for long. _

With that, Naruto having regained his feet bolted away, not sparing a backwards glance at the corpses of the two so-called Demon Brothers.

* * *

"Hey, Sakura-chan? Sakura-chan?"

"WHAT NARUTO!"

Sakura was incredibly pissed off with Naruto right now, the boy was completely irritating! Ever since they had continued their journey, Naruto had been an almost completely different person! Instead of the quiet sometimes a bit weird Naruto they were all used to, he was being ridiculously chatty and annoying! Costantly bugging them all with questions!

"Sakuuuura-chan, why is your hair sooo pink?"

"I swear to god Naruto…." This idiot! If it wasn't something about her hair, Sasuke's haircut or Kakashi's facemask then he was doing stupid stuff like attempting to instigate games of eye spy! She had tried to put up a stoic silence like their sensei and Sasuke had been managing to do (although Sasuke had broken down several times under Naruto's relentless assault of stupid and twice had tried to impale the idiot on a kunai which he somehow kept managing to dodge!) but she couldn't help but attempt to brain the damn fool which would have been great except so far she had also been unable to hit him! She had at first thought that Naruto had snapped again from the stress of combat but Kakashi-sensei didn't appear to be doing anything about it…

Looking pleading at their sensei Sakura decided to try again to appeal to their leader to calm this weird twilight zone Naruto; "Kakashi-sensei can you tell…."

"Everybody Get Down Now!" shouted Kakashi as he roughly pushed Sakura to the ground.

Reacting instantly, Sasuke dropped to the ground before cursing as he saw Tazuna still standing, before he could make a move to pull him to the floor, Naruto appeared from nowhere to dive ontop of the bridge builder, bearing him to the floor just in time to avoid a giant spinning blade whiz overhead.

"Zabuza Momochi…what are you doing here?" asked Kakashi, getting back to his feet and facing the tall ninja standing on the massive blade embedded in a tree trunk on the opposite side of the road. He recognized the missing nin instantly, a former member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist was not going to be an easy fight…and it looked like that was what he was after. _Damn, this is going to be tricky._

"Ah, Kakashi Hatake the so called copy ninja, I've always wanted to test my butcher's cleaver against you! And it looks like the chance just feel straight into my lap; the legendary Hatake alone with a bunch of brats! Let's see what you can do!" Zabuza's voice caused shivers to run down Sasuke's spine and he shivered in anticipation for the fight, eager for another chance to test his skill. Sakura clenched her teeth and gripped the handle of a kunai in determination, this time she would do better, make her team proud. Naruto took up a position in front of Tazuna to defend him while grinning beneath his hood, it was only a matter of time before the real Naruto caught up and then the fun would begin!

* * *

**Okay, another chapter done, hope you liked it...it was unfortunately a necessary chapter, not one of my best certainly (yeah out of seven...) but yeaaaah. Sorry for the slow update but had horrible irl shit going down that needed taking care of sooooooo now thats sorted should be able to pump out more yummy tasty gooey chapters! **

**My thanks to those who reviewed :)**

**imsabbel; thank you for your continued support, glad you still like the story, good to know that you liked the therapy and switcheroo stuff going on, felt i could've have done it a bit better but still felt happy with it, will probably pop up again later :) i personally like the whole 'mwahaha...for I AM EVIL!' IF it is done well and thats a big IF but this isnt that sort of story, trying to go for a conflicted character and carry the story naturally... so hope you keep enjoying it!**

**DaMayanKing; (seriously your name is sooo fun to say!) thanks for the review and glad how you like the way i've done naruto's mind, i like it but its still always nice to hear others confirmation :D**

**PutPutJunior; glad you are liked the start, yeah my pacing probably sucks but please be patient as 1st fic...(not really an excuse but still) so hopefully i will improve. i understand what you mean by how it slows down, but im trying to sort of establish a solid grounding so that it can hustle on to fun parts! seriously thank you for your comments, cos thats the sort of stuff i need to do like chap 7 not being so clear so thats something i will try to work on. i'm also not very confident on action scenes but next chapter will hopefully be really awesome when it comes to that so we'll see!**

**dracomancer6491; thank you for the info, DD sounds almost exactly like what i imagine naruto has so thanks. that will come in later on in the story!**

**kishinokurobi; glad that you 'generally' like the story (fair enough, it needs a lot of work) yeah i'm not going to bash my characters and yes naruto is a very sadistic person on occasions but thats not his only facet. totally agree with you on danzo...i mean come on! okay the cannon thing, to be honest the cannon provides a really nice framework to set up characters and establish personalities for the author, this story is not going to be cannon! so far yes it is pretty damn cannon but that will end in the next couple of chapters, there will be cannony bits but will hopefully be an original story so there's thats. the holding back bit, i had hoped people would either pick up on that or be intrigued as to why, it will be explained later but for now if you havent got an idea as to why then it will remain a mystery! oooooooh! plus ask yourself not why he isn't punching spines through ribcages but why he would?hmmmm...lol **

**Yay, hopefully stay tuned for next chapter soon!**


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